Ethics and "harvesting"of ova

I don't like genetic engineering. I just have a gut feeling that it is wrong to manipulate DNA for profit. The debate about genetically modified foods have been raging for 10 years, and is not ebbing. Worse yet, some companies want to genetically modify animals.

The debate about genetic manipulation of stemcells is even more complicated. Hwang Woo-suk, a pioneering genetic scientist at Seoul National University, has been dealt another accusation that he may have used eggs collected from one or more of his junior associates in his stem cell experiments. This type of research is extremely risky and many people all over the world have reacted against it. Read more about the scandal here and here:

"...up to 10 percent of women who undergo such ovarian stimulation to procure eggs, experience severe after-effects including infertility or death."

International Herald Tribune has some good insights too as to why all this is becoming very problematic.

Nature is keeping a close watch on the developments in this field, but my question is, how will the ethical debate be allowed to evolve? Here is an article about the debate and rules for such research in Japan. Sigh...

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