blog.bioethics.net

Hwang Woo-suk Resigns

IF YOU WERE DIRECTED HERE, this is no longer the main Hwang Woo-suk Page;

This is the page you are looking for.

The American Journal of Bioethics' blog front pageis even more updated.

The most recent analysis from the Editor's blog is a our rant on the "bad apple" theory of misconduct currently being proffered by many bioethics scholars.

Forbes led with this on the 23rd of November:

SEOUL (AFX) - South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk has resigned after admitting that two junior researchers in his team had donated eggs and that other women had received money for eggs used in his landmark research on human embryos.

'I feel so sorry to speak about such shameful and miserable things to you people,' he said in his first public comments on a scandal that has been brewing for months concerning the origin of ova used in his research.

'I again sincerely apologize for having caused concern at home and abroad.'

Hwang said that he was resigning all his official posts including the chairmanship of a new research body, the World Stem Cell Hub, established last month to produce stem cell lines here.

'As of today I am resigning from the chairmanship of the World Stem Cell Hub and all other official responsibilities I held at government and social organizations,' he said, according to Agence France-Presse.

'This is my way of seeking repentance.'

The South Korean government said earlier that Hwang had done no wrong despite receiving ova from junior researchers and other women who received payments.

'There were no breaches of legal or ethical standards in the course of obtaining human eggs for the research,' a spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.

[update: MSNBC/AP coverage]