Kurashi - News From Japan

Here at Kurashi, we have previously been very harsh on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and foods that may be GM, such as corn, soy and canola. I am not sure that we should trust any of the reports about such issues. We have also covered the exposure of a South Korean cloning researcher, who managed to fool just about everyone with his outrageous claims. "Serious ethical violations" in Korean cloning scandal Science writes that Korea's National Bioethics Committee has released a report, revealing that Dr. Hwang's team received at least 2221 oocytes from 119 women between November 2002 and December 2005. That is 160 more than Seoul National University reported last month, but in their published papers, Hwang and his colleagues reported using only 427 oocytes. Citing "serious ethical violations," the panel also found that Hwang's team failed to fully explain the potential risks associated with oocyte donation and that the Institutional...

NHK World just gave us the straight dope on why cloned meat is not such a great idea: Cloning has attracted attention in recent years as an efficient way to produce quality beef and pork. But some consumers are concerned about the safety of products from cloned animals, following many reported cases of stillbirths and newborn deaths. Stillbirths is a term that means the animals can't give birth properly, and their offspring dies inside the womb or during the process of giving birth. Claiming that meat from such animals is safe? You eat it, not me. In fact, let the experts eat it, and then we can all study their health and how they feel. I'm sure the experts will volunteer cheerfully: we can even film them as they shout "Oishi!" like the actors do here on TV all the time. And why are cloned animals often sick or deformed? You can read about the causes of stillbirth on wikipedia , but I warn you, it is not for the weak-at-heart. Neither is this quote from The Y...

Science writes that Korea's National Bioethics Committee has released a report, revealing that Dr. Hwang's team received at least 2221 oocytes from 119 women between November 2002 and December 2005. That is 160 more than Seoul National University reported last month, but in their published papers, Hwang and his colleagues reported using only 427 oocytes. Citing "serious ethical violations," the panel also found that Hwang's team failed to fully explain the potential risks associated with oocyte donation and that the Institutional Review Boards at Hanyang University's medical center and Seoul National University provided insufficient oversight. The panel says that a significant number of women who donated through MizMedi Hospital developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a side effect of the drugs given to oocyte donors. Fifteen out of the 79 MizMedi donors were treated for the syndrome, which can cause nausea in mild cases and liver and kidney damage in s...

The final report from the panel at Seoul National University concludes that the two research papers by Dr. Hwang are both fabricated. Wow. There are no embryonic stem cells (ES). The 2004 and 2005 papers published in Science have no scientific basis. I found the SNU investigation which concludes : Our judgment is thus that the scandalous case of Woo Suk Hwang and cloned ES cells will not have a large impact on the effort of the scientific community in Korea. Rather, we are certain that this learning experience will be a stepping stone for better execution and management of scientific research and contribute to scientific advancement in this country. The young scientists who courageously pointed out the fallacy and precipitated the initiation of this investigation are our hope for the future. I first started blogging about this in November 2005 , sensing something was not right. Now I have to say, well done SNU and everyone at Korean media, for getting to the bottom of this story. W...

Update: Prof. Hwang Woo-suk has announced his decision to step down from all governmental and social positions which he concurrently holds, including his chairmanship of the World Stem Cell Bank . Read more about Thursday's press conference in Seoul here . BBC says the cloning pioneer is disgraced, as he admitted he had not told the truth to the medical journal Nature. Not only did he lie, he also broke an international ethical code, the Declaration of Helsinki from 1964. It deals with issues related to biomedical research involving human subjects, particularly the following condition: When obtaining informed consent for the research project the physician should be particularly cautious if the subject is in a dependent relationship with the physician or may consent under duress. Stem cell scandal previous

The scandal about Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk got more serious, after a TV program on Tuesday that revealed that women were paid for donating their eggs. In an editorial, the Chosung Ilbo writes: What matters is that a document supplementing the Hwang team's stem-cell cloning research paper published in the journal Science in February last year states, "Eggs used for the research were donated voluntarily; none of the egg donors, their families and relatives received any benefit from the donation." It appears Dr. Hwan lied to the scientific community. There are serious risks to the women whose ova are "harvested", according to experts : Getting a single egg out of an ovary would require a fairly simple surgery under sedation. But women naturally produce only one or two mature eggs a month, and fertility doctors try to get at least 10 ova from each surgery. So the doctors prescribe a battery of hormones that prompt that many eggs to ripen a...