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The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) will hold a first meeting of a task force consisting of 20 experts from a dozen countries including the U.S., the U.K. and Japan on Jan. 24. The ISSCR is a leading international body with more than 4,000 members. It formed the task force in November, when Hwang first admitted to ethical lapses in occyte procurement for research.

ISSCR vice president George Daley, a professor at the Harvard Medical School, leads the task force, which includes science, law and ethics specialists. Ian Wilmut, who cloned the sheep Dolly, and Norio Nakatsuji of Kyoto University will join the task force as science specialists. From Korea, Junn Sung-chull, the chairman of the Institute of Global Management and an international lawyer, will participate as a legal advisor. The task force will formulate rules for supervisory boards in research institutes and ethical guidelines for ova donation, Junn said.

Prof. Kim Dong-wook of the Department of physiology at Yonsei University College of Medicine, who represents Korea in the ISSCR, said the scandal created a general consensus among scientists that bioengineering must stand on firm ethical grounds, which is why the guidelines will have great symbolic meaning.

(englishnews@chosun.com )