Debate rages over use of fresh stem cell eggs

The use of fresh egg cells in stem cell research, banned in Korea for years, is being hotly debated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

The Bioethics and Safety Act forbids the use of fresh egg cells in stem cell research, more specifically in the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which can be used to create clones for reproductive and therapeutic purposes by removing the nucleus of an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus of a somatic cell.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning is asking for a policy revision whereby the use of fresh egg cells, voluntarily donated, would be allowed for further development in stem cell research.

The use of fresh eggs in SCNT was made illegal in Korea after 2005, when Hwang Woo-suk, a veterinarian and a former professor at Seoul National University, was found to have fabricated evidence and even bought human eggs for his stem-cell research, which was once regarded as a breakthrough in the science of cloning.

Hwang...