Aggregated News
At a closed meeting yesterday, the National Bioethics Committee of the Health Ministry again deferred a decision on whether to approve Cha General Hospital’s plan to research human embryonic cloning. When the hospital hands in an improved plan, the committee will review it again, officials said.
The hospital’s request for approval attracted media attention because it would have been the first such research approved by the government since it was suspended in 2006 following revelation that scientist Hwang Woo-suk had fabricated stem cell research data.
Last August, the committee rejected a similar request by Hwang, who continues his research at Suam Biotechnology Institute. Hwang was dismissed by Seoul National University after he admitted his deception.
The committee said the hospital needs to modify the title of its research to avoid potential excessive expectations, to minimize ethical issues and to reconsider ways to reduce the use of ova in the research.
Chung Hyung-min, a senior researcher at Cha General Hospital, submitted a plan in March 2008 to develop a human embryonic stem cell line derived from a cloned blastocyst. He would...