Posted on 11/21/2005 1:26:08 PM PST by hocndoc
Stem-Cell Scientist Admits Paying Women for Eggs
"I made a difficult decision hoping that it would help pave the way for a breakthrough in fulfilling one of humankind's biggest dreams, which is to find remedies for hard-to-cure diseases," said Roh Sung Il, head of Miz Medi Hospital in Seoul, fighting back tears. Roh's transactions took place before South Korea adopted its first bioethics law in January banning a financial reward for egg donors.
South Korea's groundbreaking stem-cell research program was plunged deeper into an ethics controversy on Monday, with a scientist acknowledging that he had paid 20 women for contributing their eggs.
Speaking at a news conference, Roh Sung Il, head of Miz Medi Hospital in Seoul, said he had worried that what he was doing might be seen as controversial and kept his transactions from other researchers, including Hwang Woo Suk, a cloning scientist who runs the world's most successful human embryonic stem-cell laboratory.
Despite repeated questions from journalists, Roh refused to clarify another crucial question: whether junior scientists on Hwang's team volunteered to donate eggs -- an ethics violation, critics say, given a hierarchical lab culture in South Korea.
"It was difficult to obtain enough eggs for our research. It was inevitable to offer some compensation in return for egg donations," Roh said.
The doctor said he paid 1.5 million won, or $1,440, per woman.
"I made a difficult decision hoping that it would help pave the way for a breakthrough in fulfilling one of humankind's biggest dreams, which is to find remedies for hard-to-cure diseases," Roh said, fighting back tears.
"I did not discuss my decision with Dr. Hwang because I thought I should take all responsibility myself." The eggs obtained through Roh were used for Hwang's research, which was recognized in 2004 as the first successful attempt to clone human embryos and harvest stem cells from them.
In theory, stem cells can grow into tissues in any parts of the human body.
Cloning them is a milestone in the quest to grow patients' own replacement tissue to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, and spinal cord injuries. The process, however, takes dozens of eggs to make one cloned human embryo.
The embryo is destroyed in the process of harvesting stem cells.
A debate in the United States and elsewhere over the ethics of paying women for donating eggs for such a process is likely to escalate with Monday's revelation in South Korea.
Roh's transactions took place before South Korea adopted its first bioethics law in January banning a financial reward for egg donors.
In April, the National Academies of the United States recommended against payments for human eggs beyond expenses incurred by the donors. Roh also said his payments were meant to compensate the loss of work and other inconveniences the women suffered. But critics still consider such payment unethical.
The ethics crisis in Hwang's lab erupted a week ago when a University of Pittsburgh biologist, Gerald Schatten, ended his 20-month-old association with Hwang, saying he had evidence that Hwang's eggs were obtained unethically.
With Hwang delaying clarifications, MBC, a leading television network in South Korea, said Monday that some of the eggs Hwang's team had used were acquired from women who were in debt and sold their eggs for money.
MBC planned to broadcast its interviews with the women on Tuesday.
MBC also quoted a woman as saying that she did not know whether her eggs would be used in stem cell research -- an allegation Roh vehemently denied Monday. Roh said all egg donors were properly informed.
Some fear that the uproar will hamper stem cell research in South Korea.
Supposedly this doctor bought oocytes (eggs) from women for $1400 US, and then donated them to the veterinarian, Hwang.
And don't bother to look for much of a fuss about this story in the old media: they're too busy figuring out who outed Wilson (the wife, not the editorialist).
Ping!
Hey! would this count as torture and demeaning treatment?
This is no big deal. I buy my eggs at Krogers.
"The doctor said he paid 1.5 million won, or $1,440, per woman.'
Life is cheap!
There has been absolutely NO SUCCESS or PROMISE with EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS. The success and promise IS with ADULT STEM CELLS and CORD BLOOD. Still they destroy human eggs.
The problem isn't the fact that they are compensating women for the eggs. It's harvesting stem cells from embryos that is sick.
I wonder what she gets on her eggs?
After paying for them I really DOUBT that he "donated" them to someone else. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck ... . I guarantee you he SOLD them and made a nifty profit - of course to purchase other eggs in the name of "science".
The incredible, edible egg.
All this talk about eggs is just making me hungry.
Adult stemm cells have shown promise and more. They are currently being uses in treating 60 or more diseases or conditions. They have been used to treat liver damage, diabetes, and have even helped restore vision.
Embryonic stem cells, so far, have shown high risks for mutations and tumors.
Ultimately, the debate depends on where one places value on life. If one views life in a materialistic, the ends jusftify the means fashion, then embryonic stem cell usage poses no moral dilemma. If a person feels that a human life is not a game to be created and destroyed at a whim, then adult stem cells provide the only ethical path.
http://www.stemcellresearch.org
So I'm not conservative because I believe restrictions should be placed on terminating life?
How odd.
(Your Constitutional authorization to fund any type of medical research was ... ?)
The dividing line between adult and embryonic stem cells is faint and getting fainter every day. The great promise of adult cells is when they can be turned into embryonic stem cells, and thus coaxed to develop into whatever organ or cell type the patient needs replaced. The resulting organs/cells will be a genetic match for the patient, which would not be the case with embryonic stem cells (unless the nuclei of the embryonic stem cells is replaced with the patient's, which will also be possible very soon). But by the time the adult stem cells have been manipulated to where they can turn into ANY organ/cell type, they will also be at the point where they be turned into ALL organs and cell types, i.e. into a full blown howling, peeing, burping baby which is a genetic clone of the adult patient.
The US has the right idea -- shouldn't be any government funding for this, or any other medical research that isn't directly related to national security or highly contagious diseases (i.e. unusually virulent flu strains, smallpox, bioterrorism) However, this article is about a country where the activity in question -- purchasing donor eggs -- is not permitted even with private money, or for research funded only with private money. I would certainly not support such a restriction in the US. My eggs belong to me, not to the government, and I should be free to whatever I like with them, with or without payment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.