Posted on 01/03/2006 12:22:02 AM PST by HAL9000
Korean TV station MBC Tuesday dealt another blow to the country’s cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk claiming he had forced his junior researcher to contribute eggs by using authorship as a carrot.MBC made the claim in its investigative program, ``PD Notebook,’’ which resumed after a four-week suspension caused by its aggressive position on Hwang’s controversial stem cell research.
``Hwang’s team used more than 1,600 eggs obtained from a total of 86 donors for their stem cell papers featured by the U.S. journal Science in 2004 and 2005,’’ MBC producer Choi Seung-ho said.
Hwang claimed to have harvested the first-ever cloned embryonic stem cell line in a 2004 Science paper as well as having grown 11 patient-specific stem cells in a 2005 Science article.
The authenticity of both seminal exploits are under serious doubts and producers of MBC PD Notebook played a major role in bringing the truth to light.
``On the donor’s list is Park Eul-soon, one of 15 co-authors of the 2004 paper. Park was urged to provide eggs by Hwang, who pledged to credit her with co-authorship in return,’’ Choi said.
``Park changed her mind in the last minute but she could not break her promise due to the pressure from Hwang,’’ Choi said.
As evidences, the PD Notebook team showed an e-mail from Park and testimony from her colleague during the hour-long documentary aired late Tuesday.
Should the assertion prove to be true, Hwang’s integrity, already seriously dented by stem cell scandal, will be damaged even more.
Hwang has insisted that his team used just 427 eggs for his stem cell papers published by Science, 242 for the 2004 article and 185 for the 2005 one.
When MBC raised suspicions late November that Hwang obtained eggs from his subordinates, the 52-year-old admitted the in-house egg donation had happened in 2003.
However, he continued to contend two of his underlings provided eggs voluntarily without his knowledge and he became aware of the fact only midway through 2004.
Choi said he believes both Science articles are outright falsifications as indicated in part by an investigation committee at Seoul National University (SNU), where Hwang works.
``The best scenario is that Hwang gained a single cloned stem cell line documented in the 2004 Science paper using more than 1,600 eggs,’’ Choi said.
``Though the 2004 paper was fabricated, there is a slim possibility that his team really cloned a stem cell line but they failed to prove it as they do not have proper data from a cell donor,’’ he added.
After announcing that Hwang’s team has no patient-specific stem cells, featured in the 2005 paper, the SNU panel is now investigating the 2004 paper and the veracity of the first cloned dog, Snuppy.
In addition, the panel is drawing up a final report of the weeks-long probe into ``Hwanggate,’’ and sources said it will make public the comprehensive report early next week, possibly on Jan. 9 or 10.
What do you expect for those who deal with the devil
Woo-suk, you suck
reminds me of when irving what's, is name made some similar claim. Hitler made the same claim. Take your sources where you find them.
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