Stem cell lies
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 all at once (...)
The hormonal cocktails commonly cause what could be seen as a bad case of PMS, complete with moodiness and nausea. But once in a while, the drugs kick the ovaries into overdrive, causing a buildup of fluid that, in turn, can lead to kidney failure, stroke, or even death. Repeated egg extractions can also scar the ovaries, which can cause donors themselves to become infertile. (Some have claimed that the drugs increase women's chances of specific kinds of cancer, but the research is inconclusive.)
"A significant portion of women who undergo egg extraction have side effects," Fogel told us. But the biggest problem, these critics say, is that there isn't good data on how common the effects are – fertility therapies are largely unstudied.
Susan Berke Fogel is the head of the California activist group the Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research (PCARR).
Stem cells scandal previous
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 all at once (...)
The hormonal cocktails commonly cause what could be seen as a bad case of PMS, complete with moodiness and nausea. But once in a while, the drugs kick the ovaries into overdrive, causing a buildup of fluid that, in turn, can lead to kidney failure, stroke, or even death. Repeated egg extractions can also scar the ovaries, which can cause donors themselves to become infertile. (Some have claimed that the drugs increase women's chances of specific kinds of cancer, but the research is inconclusive.)
"A significant portion of women who undergo egg extraction have side effects," Fogel told us. But the biggest problem, these critics say, is that there isn't good data on how common the effects are – fertility therapies are largely unstudied.
Susan Berke Fogel is the head of the California activist group the Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research (PCARR).
Stem cells scandal previous
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