South Korean Cloning Scientist Resigns in Egg Donation Scandal
BY Liz Townsend

Hwang Woo-suk, the South Korean scientist famous for being the first to clone human embryos and successfully extract stem cells, killing them in the process, resigned as head of the World Stem Cell Hub and other government-funded agencies November 24.  Hwang admitted to lying about the source of human eggs used in the research. Some were donated by his own employees, according to Yonhap news agency.

The controversy deepened when a producer at a local television station, Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. (MBC), told media outlets that MBC would air a report calling Hwang's research into question, according to the Associated Press (AP). Hwang had reported in the May 19 Science magazine that his laboratory created stem cell lines that match the DNA of patients who donated skin cells.

After a few days of development, the cloned embryos were destroyed and their stem cells removed. The theory is that these stem cells, which are nearly genetically identical to the original donor, could be used to treat the donor's medical condition.

MBC decided to test these claims of donor/cloned embryonic cell matches, Yonhap reported. It collected five samples of the cloned cells and original donor cells and conducted DNA tests. The results by two different laboratories, according to MBC, showed that one of the samples did not match. The labs were unable to extract enough DNA from the other four to conduct proper tests, according to the AP.

Hwang has been in hiding since his resignation, and has not publicly commented on the MBC report as of press time. A close aide told Yonhap, "We do not believe the outcome and call into question the procedure of the DNA test."

The controversies have dealt a blow to Korea's World Stem Cell Hub, of which Hwang was the head and leading researcher. The hub opened in October to great fanfare. It was intended to be the center of international research into embryonic stem cells. Centers were planned to open in Britain and California, according to the AP. An emergency ad hoc committee will be formed to continue running the hub in the wake of Hwang's resignation, Korea Herald reported.

The egg donation scandal began in 2004, when Hwang was asked by the British science journal Nature whether two of his junior researchers donated their eggs, Yonhap reported. At the time Hwang told Nature that the report was false, even though--as he admitted at the press conference announcing his resignation--Hwang had asked the women if it was true, and they confirmed it.  Until his resignation he continued to assert that the eggs were not improperly donated.

"I am very sorry that I have to tell the public words that are too shameful and horrible," Hwang said, according to the AP. "The responsibility for all disputes and controversy lies on me. I will not make any excuse."

In addition, Hwang's colleague Roh Sung-il of MizMedi Women's Hospital in Seoul admitted November 21 that he paid more than 20 women about $1,500 for their eggs, which were also used in Hwang's research. Roh said that Hwang was unaware of the payments.

"I made the decision on my own without the knowledge of Hwang," Roh told Korea Times. "He would get to know things only after announcing cloned human stem cells in early 2004."

Neither using employees' eggs nor paying for them was illegal under South Korean law until January 2005. However, international standards for research strongly warn against both practices, since they could lead to coercion.

South Korea's 21-member National Bioethics Committee announced November 29 that it would thoroughly review Hwang's research practices.

"Hwang's case has become an international issue," panel chairman Yang Sam-Seung told Agence France-Presse. "So we should examine whether his team has complied with international standards."

Since the scandal, researchers from other countries have questioned whether they will associate with Hwang. U.S. stem cell researcher Gerald Schatten of University of Pittsburgh dissolved a 20-month association with Hwang November 11, saying that Hwang was dishonest when asked about the egg procurement practices, the Washington Post reported.

Others said that while Hwang may not be involved, embryonic stem cell research will continue. "It may slow it down just a little bit, but it'll just be done another way," stem cell researcher Robin Lovell-Badge, head of developmental genetics at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, told the AP. "Technology spreads fast."