Latest Korean News

Latest Korean News

Reuters reported today that the president of Seoul National University has stripped Dr. Hwang Woo-suk of his title of “chair-professor.” Hwang has already offered to resign from the university. The president also said that six other members of Hwang’s time should receive punishments ranging from reprimands to dismissal. An AP story on Forbes says that Hwang still retains his professorship in veterinary medicine and his future standing will be determined by a disciplinary committee.

In other news, the Korea Times reports that the English magazine the New Scientist reports that Hwang will be granted patents in Europe. A patent does not have to be workable to be granted as long as it does not violate the fundamental laws of science; it only has to be a new idea.

Chosun Ilbo, which reported yesterday that the investigation had taken stem cells from MizMedi Hospital, today reported that the investigators have found the missing experiment log. Kwon Dae-ki, who headed the stem cell team under Hwang, deleted 381 files from his computer in December. The investigators were able to restore 302 of them.

Phase II Trials to Begin in Stroke Treatment

Phase II Trials to Begin in Stroke Treatment

The Canadian company Stem Cell Therapeutics announced via press release that it will soon begin Phase II clinical trials of its NTx(TM)-265 therapy. The therapy involves inducing a patient’s own stem cells to proliferate in the brain, and the company hopes it will be effective for a variety of degenerative neurological disorders. The company’s website says that “neurogenesis-promoting agents” are administered to the patient. In other words, this is a drug treatment and not a treatment based on administration of stem cells.

Judge Approves Ballot Initiative in Missouri

Judge Approves Ballot Initiative in Missouri

A Missouri judge ruled yesterday, at the end of a day of testimony, that the title for a proposed ballot initiative amending the state constitution to allow all stem cell research not prohibited by federal law was not deceptive. Supporters of the initiative, the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, said they would begin to gather signatures immediately. According to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the opponents who filed the lawsuit said that the ballot language of “no person may clone or attempt to clone a human being” was deceptive, in that somatic cell nuclear transfer would still be permissible.

According to an AP story on the Kansas City Channel,

"I have read this ballot initiative over and over again," [Judge Byron] Kinder said after presiding over several hours of testimony. "Most of what I heard today goes to the issue of what you have to convince voters. The ballot title is sufficient and fair and the language is neutral."

The Post-Dispatch reported that he stayed away from the issues of ethics and kept his ruling to the more narrow issue of the language. He heard arguments about the meaning of the word “cloning” but curtailed discussion on the ethics.

Of course the issue of language is not an insignificant one at all, since language is the primary tool by which people communicate, persuade, appeal, and interact. In law many legal arguments depend upon the way a word is defined and what is encompasses and what it excludes. This ruling (which may yet be appealed) sets a precedent for the use of the word “cloning” as meaning reproductive cloning only, and may well become important in other cases across the US.