Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
The Korean Society for Medical Ethics
Article

Revising the Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Act:Should researchers be prohibited from donating oocytes?*

John Michael McGuire1,*
1Division of International Studies, Hanyang University
*Division of International Studies, Hanyang University. 02-2220-2282, squiremcguire@gmail.com

ⓒ Copyright 2006 The Korean Society for Medical Ethics. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jun 30, 2006

ABSTRACT

Recent public investigations into the human embryonic stem cell research of Hwang Woo-Suk and his colleagues have brought to light a plethora of ethical problems associated with that research as well as numerous deficiencies in the existing legislation designed to prevent such problems, the Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Act (KBBA). In response to these revelations, the Korean National Bioethics Commission and the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare are currently in the process of revising the KBBA to ensure that future stem cell research in Korea is carried out in an ethically responsible manner. In this paper I focus on one of the ethical problems raised by Hwang’s research: the issue of oocyte donations by junior researchers. I address the following two questions: 1) Did Hwang violate ethical guidelines in accepting oocyte donations from junior researchers? 2) Should the KBBA be revised to prohibit oocyte donations from junior researchers? With respect to the first question, I argue that, contrary to popular opinion, Hwang did not violate the Helsinki Declaration in accepting oocytes donations from junior researchers. In response to the second question, I argue that the KBBA should indeed be revised to prohibit junior researchers from donating oocytes for research in which they themselves are involved.

Keywords: Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Act; Hwang Woo-Suk; Oocyte donors; Informed consent; The Helsinki Declaration