A Cloning Cover-up

For Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, South Korea’s pioneering stem-cell researcher, success comes from a willingness to work harder than anyone else. But his researchers may have taken their dedication a step too far. Last Thursday, after repeated denials, Hwang admitted that two of his junior lab workers had donated their eggs a critical component for embryonic-stem-cell studies for his research, and that an associate had paid other women for their eggs in 2002 and 2003. “Being too focused on scientific development, I may not have seen all the ethical issues related to my research,” a grim Hwang said at a news conference in Seoul, announcing he would step down as head of the newly created World Stem Cell Hub.

Hwang said the egg donations by his subordinates unethical due to the possibility of coercion were done without his knowledge, and that the donors begged him to deny a May 2004 report on their actions in the journal Nature. But the cover-up began to come undone on Nov. 12, when Hwang’s main international collaborator abruptly ended their partnership, citing ethical concerns. On Nov. 21, Hwang’s associate Roh Sung Il admitted that he had paid about 20 women $1,500 each for their eggs, a practice since declared illegal. “I had to keep it secret,” Roh told Time, adding that Hwang’s cloning breakthroughs would have been impossible without a steady supply of eggs.

In Hwang’s rush to push ahead with his work, a conflict was perhaps inevitable. “The whole issue of using human eggs and reproductive cloning is so sensitive that you have to be squeaky clean ethically,” says Dr. Richard Boyd, a stem-cell scientist at Australia’s Monash University. Despite the scandal, Hwang, who says he’ll continue his research, remains a hero at home last week more than 600 Korean women signed up to donate their eggs. That reaction worries Ku In Hoe, a bioethicist at Catholic University in Seoul. “Korea’s representative scientist just turned out to be a liar,” she says. “We should not try to cover this up.”