Study Shows Bioethics Awareness Lacking

A survey shows that eight out of 10 Korean biotechnology researchers are not aware of the “Declaration of Helsinki,” an international bioethics guideline established in 1964.

Also, one out of two such researchers has never received education on ethics training related to biotechnology experiments.

The survey was conducted on November 23 and 24 by SciOn, a science survey group affiliated with the Biological Research Information Center (BRIC) of POSTECH on commission of Dong-A Ilbo to investigate the ethical perspectives of biotech scientists.

About 963 scientists doing research in the biotechnology sector in universities, government-affiliated research centers, hospitals and venture firms were polled.

About 46 percent of respondents (440 people) said they did not know about the Helsinki Declaration, while 39 percent (374 people) answered that they have heard about the declaration but did not know what it is.

Approximately 42 percent (402 people) said they are not aware of the Institutional Review Board which investigated into possible ethical problems of Hwang Woo-seok’s team at the College of Veterinary Medicine of Seoul National University.

cosmos@donga.com