Hwang Debacle Seen as "Regression of Democracy"
By The Korea Times,
The Korea Times
| 01. 12. 2006
Korea University historian Choi Jang-jip criticized the government for its inability to properly monitor the works of Seoul National University scientist Hwang Woo-suk despite promoting them as national achievements.
Earlier this week, an investigative panel at Seoul National University exposed Hwang_s recent studies on human stem cells, published by U.S. magazine Science in 2004 and 2005, as fake.
``The Hwang incident is a product of the Roh Administration_s policies to develop the science sector. There is a close connection between the government_s paranoia and greed for achievements and the initiatives to put Korea on the international map in biotechnology,__ said Choi in a session held at the Sungkonghoe University on Thursday.
The 63-year-old scholar, who heads Korea University_s Asia Studies Institute, claimed that the heavy promotion of Hwang_s research activities, which gave the cloning expert a near-superstar status, created an environment that eliminated healthy criticism and debate.
``The government policies supporting and financing Hwang_s work, based on his scientific achievements, merged with nationalism and patriotism and created a quasi-fascist environment that suppressed criticism and the freedom to search for the...
Related Articles
By Priyanka Runwal, Chemical and Engineering News | 08.05.2024
Saritee Sanodiya, 26, has spent countless days wondering if she’ll ever live a “normal” life. Growing up, Sanodiya often missed school, frequenting the hospital for sudden, life-threatening drops in her hemoglobin levels and excruciating pain in her joints. High fever...
It’s been a busy couple of months in biopolitics, with developments in the US, UK, China, Japan, and implicitly on Mars. Time for a brief roundup.
• • •
Bioethics needs an update
The National Research Act is now 50 years old. It was signed into law on July 12, 1974, as a direct response to publicity about the 1932 “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” The Hastings Bioethics Forum celebrated its anniversary with an...
By Alcott Wei, South China Morning Post | 07.13.2024
China has banned all clinical research involving germline genome editing under a newly released ethics guideline.
Germline gene engineering relates to altering the DNA in sperm, eggs or early embryos to introduce changes that can be inherited.
“Any clinical research...
By Staff, Japan Times | 07.10.2024
Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash
How did Japanese society, which was supposed to have transformed into a democracy after World War II, justify discrimination against people with disabilities and openly endorse eugenics?
This is a key question people may...