ツカ研、最近の動き
スイス・ローザンヌで開催されるヨーロッパ科学技術社会論連合大会で、
ファン・ウソ ク（ソウル大学教授）のES細胞捏造問題をめ ぐるセッションに、ディスカッサントおよびオーディエンスとして（大挙？）参加。
ツカ 研・フランス隊を中心に、ひさびさのヨー ロッパ展開！
What does Korean Stem Cell Scandal imply to STS?
Session organizers:Sang-yong SONG, President of the Asian Bioethics Association, and Vice-Chair of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, UNESCO; Hideto NAKAJIMA, Associate Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Fellow of Collegium Budapest E-mail: hnakajima@colbud.hu
Preferred thread: Biomedical practices, politics and markets
Key words: biomedical ethics, fraud, stem cell, competitiveness.
Dr. Woo-suk HWANG of Seoul National University rose to international stardom when his paper on human stem cell cloning was published in US journal 'Science' in 2004. However, his fame suffered from sudden downfall at the turn to 2006, as it was uncovered that the paper was composed of fabricated data. Korean society was shocked by the scandal around their hero, but the public in the world also surprised because the paper in a leading scientific journal was not reliable.
It is easy to see the event as a mere scandal. However, we STS'ers need to analize the event from much balanced view. Of course, we have to know exactly how the scandal started. Indeed, even in the earlier stage, ethical doubt had been raised to HWANG experiment, especially for the way he acquired human eggs. But another important aspect we should pay attention is intense governmental support to HWANG. One of co-authors of HWANG's paper was a presidential advisor for science and technology. HWANG was under strong pressure to achieve success, for he got governmental support for about eight years.
Innovations in science and technology are regarded as a key for national competitiveness in coming knowledge society.
Every nation and region is eager to win the market race through the better use of science and technology. Then, should we suppose that similar fraud would be repeated in other countries? Is peer review still valid to ensure quality in science? How could the media serve to stop (or to foster) scandalous misconduct? The session is aimed at considering crisis in science and technology in global market society, taking stem cell scandal as an example.
Speakers: Prof. Sungook HONG & Dr. June S. LEE(Seoul National University, Korea), Prof. Sang Wook YI (Hanyan University, Korea), Dr. Junji KAYUKAWA (Medical journalist, Japan) and a speaker from Taiwan (N.A.).
Discussant: Prof. Togo TSUKAHARA (Kobe University, Japan)
http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/confprog.htm
http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/Parallel%20Sessions0707.pdf