Originally published February 15 2006
Stem cell fraud damages the image of growing scientific interest in the subject
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The resignation of Hwang Woo-suk from Seoul National University followed the school's discovery that he had fabricated cloning and stem-cell research, and the event has left stem cell and cloning scientists around the world visibly shaken and fearful for the future of their field.
Scientists fretted Friday that a spectacular cloning fraud that hid in plain sight has set back legitimate stem cell work around the world.
Cloning experts and stem cell scientists said research in the potentially revolutionary field of regenerative medicine will continue unabated.
But they said public confidence in their work had been weakened by a sham branded by experts as the most visible case of scientific fraud they could recall.
Scientists also struggled to explain how they didn't earlier catch the charismatic South Korean veterinarian's claim in a Science paper published in May that he cloned 11 human embryos to produce stem cells.
"That's a difficult one," said Keith Campbell, the University of Nottingham researcher who helped clone Dolly the sheep in 1997.
"Scientists are asked to referee a lot of papers and to a certain extent we have to believe each other as to the validity of the data."
A disgraced Hwang Woo-suk resigned from Seoul National University on Friday after the school said the researcher fabricated groundbreaking cloning and stem-cell research that had raised hopes of new cures for hard-to-treat diseases.
Hwang chalked up much of the success to South Korean government support and dedicated researchers working around the clock.
He also credited his workers' dexterity with chopsticks; stem cell researchers visited from around the world and rushed back to their labs to try the new technique.
The journal Science said it would retract the May paper and investigate Hwang's 2004 paper that claimed the first cloned human embryo.
"It's a stain on the honor and integrity of the whole field," said Dr. Robert Lanza, a cloning expert at the biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology.
"It has sent a lot of scientists on a wild goose chase and down false paths."
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