Posted on 12/15/2005 7:23:09 AM PST by presidio9
SEOUL, South Korea - A doctor who provided human eggs for research by cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said in a broadcast Thursday that the South Korean scientist admitted that most of the stem cells produced for a key research paper were faked.
Roh Sung-il, chairman of the board at Mizmedi Hospital, told KBS television that Hwang had agreed to ask the journal Science to withdraw the paper, published in June to international acclaim. Roh was one of the co-authors of the article that detailed how individual stem cell colonies were created for 11 patients through cloning.
Roh also told MBC television that Hwang had pressured a former scientist at his lab to fake data to make it look like there were 11 stem cell colonies.
Roh said nine of the embryonic stem cell lines Hwang claimed were cloned in the paper were faked, and the authenticity of the other two was unknown.
Roh told MBC he heard from Hwang on Thursday morning that "there were no embryonic stem cells" because all colonies have since died in the lab.
Hwang did not answer his phone and researchers from his lab at Seoul National University could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hwang was staying at the university's hospital, spokesman Yang Sung-ki said Thursday evening. The researcher has been undergoing treatment there for stress since last week, the spokesman said.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, in the Philippines for a state visit, called for caution regarding the reports on Hwang's work.
"Let's watch the situation," Roh said, according to Choi In-ho, the president's vice spokesman.
University of Pittsburgh researcher Gerald Schatten has already asked that Science remove him as the senior author of the report, citing questions about the paper's accuracy.
Seoul National University announced this week it would conduct an internal probe into Hwang's research.
Hwang's team has admitted it made an error that led to duplicated photos accompanying the article, but editors of Science have so far stood by the paper's findings.
The work by Hwang, regarded as a world-leading researcher in stem cells, recently has come under a cloud of suspicion. Last month, he publicly apologized after admitting that, despite earlier denials, he used eggs donated by two junior female scientists in his lab — a violation of international ethics guidelines.
Hwang also stepped down as head of the World Stem Cell Hub, an international project launched in October to find treatments for incurable diseases.
Scientists hope that stem cell research could one day lead to finding cures for paralysis and many diseases, including Parkinson's.
Hwang, you suk.
I'm shocked, just shocked.
Junk science is not just for global warming eh?
I'm shocked. The culture of death lying? Say it isn't so!
Christopher Reeve is deeply saddened.
"Fake but Accurate" PING!
I didn't realize that scientists could be crooked or conniving?
I sure hope the US isn't "falling behind"... in making things up. Good think cBS is still in business.
EVIL George Bush - how dare he limit this false research!
"I'm so wohn-wee." -Wango-Zee-Tango Woo-suk
That world-renowned expert on stem cells (and ballet dancer) Ron Reagan Jr is also deeply saddened.
I thought scientists didn't do this kind of thing?
The political nature of Science (and Nature to some degree) recently is cause for concern.
This junk should never even be considered in the first place.
As in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton (which in one it was admitted the girl was never raped and she wanted and eventually had the child, and the other never wanted or got an abortion... she wanted and had the child), both were based on a lie. One was a mother of three who needed money and was approached by lawyers with sorely needed cash to put a case forward, the other lied about being raped (she now works with the pro-life movement).
In the business of death, there is always a lie as a catalyst.
Fake but accurate BUMP
If someone's willing to kill, they're willing to lie.
Think we'll get 500 replies for this one?
Science has always been political in nature! Scientists the world over down through history have always feathered their own nest, either stubbornly clinging to ideas proven wrong or faking evidence to prove their theories are factual. Always has happened and will continue to happen.
ping
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