The other shoe has dropped. Eggs were purchased in Korea, although it is not entirely clear from whom or by whom. The scientist involved insists that he kept the information from Woo-suk Hwang. From the International Herald:
“It was difficult to obtain enough eggs for our research. It was inevitable to offer some compensation in return for egg donations,” Roh said.
The doctor said he paid 1.5 million won, or $1,440, per woman.
“I made a difficult decision hoping that it would help pave the way for a breakthrough in fulfilling one of humankind’s biggest dreams, which is to find remedies for hard-to-cure diseases,” Roh said, fighting back tears. “I did not discuss my decision with Dr. Hwang because I thought I should take all responsibility myself.” …
MBC … said Monday that some of the eggs Hwang’s team had used were acquired from women who were in debt and sold their eggs for money…”
MBC also quoted a woman as saying that she did not know whether her eggs would be used in stem cell research – an allegation Roh vehemently denied Monday…
The story here is not about whether paying for eggs or taking eggs from colleagues is a problem (although that is certainly an issue), because Hwang’s team addressed that issue in its outstanding guidelines for egg procurement out today in AJOB. The issue is whether they followed the guidelines that they set and if not why not and why there has been such delay in full disclosure.