ETHICAL disputes continue to hamper stem cell research 鈥� sometimes in unexpected ways.
The use of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is criticised by many because creating them usually requires a human embryo to be destroyed. Now ethical concerns of a different kind are jeopardising plans for a World Stem Cell Hub to share lines of human ESCs.
Plans for the hub were unveiled last month by Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University in South Korea, who shot to fame through his work on deriving human ESCs from cloned embryos. This relied on the donation of large numbers of human eggs. But in May 2004 the journal Nature alleged that some of the eggs had come from a junior worker in Hwang鈥檚 lab, in breach of the project鈥檚 ethical guidelines.
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Hwang rejected the accusation. But now his main US collaborator, Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh, says he will no longer work with Hwang, after reviewing new evidence on the source of the eggs. 鈥淚nformation came to my attention suggesting that misrepresentations might have occurred,鈥� Schatten announced on 12 November.
Schatten鈥檚 statement followed news that Sung Il Roh of the MizMedi Hospital in Seoul, who is a collaborator of Hwang鈥檚, was being investigated by police as part of a probe into illegal egg trading.
Hwang has denied that any eggs used in the cloning projects were purchased illegally. He told New 杏吧原创 this week that he is investigating all allegations relating to his research, and will only be able to comment once that process is complete.
The latest developments bode ill for the stem cell hub. Potential collaborators say they will only participate if it is clear that eggs are collected ethically. 鈥淥ur reputation is more important than a scientific paper,鈥� says Evan Snyder, a stem-cell biologist at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California.
