View Full Version : South Korean Scientist Denies Faking Stem Cell Data
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/16/AR2005121601788.html?nav=rss_nation
South Korean Scientist Denies Faking Stem Cell Data
Hwang Admits Having Technical Problems in Work
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 17, 2005; A10
The scientific and political maelstrom surrounding a renowned South Korean stem cell researcher intensified yesterday as the scientist vehemently denied a co-worker's accusation that he had faked much of his data.
Adding to the confusion, editors of the scientific journal that published the research said yesterday that the accused scientist, Hwang Woo Suk of Seoul National University, has asked them to retract the report because some of the data "could not be trusted."
The new events did little to clarify the facts behind one of the bigger scientific scandals in recent memory -- one that has put the already controversial field of embryonic stem cell research in unprecedented turmoil. At issue is the validity of seminal experiments that purported to show the practical usefulness of embryonic stem cells as treatments for disease.
At a news conference in Seoul, Hwang admitted there were technical problems in the contested work but aggressively denied any wrongdoing. He said he was in the process of thawing several cell cultures saved from the experiments and would perform tests on them to prove the veracity of his work.
Saying he was "surprised and embarrassed" by the public assertions of scientific misconduct leveled by his former colleague, Roh Sung Il of the MizMedi Hospital, he lashed out at his critics, suggesting that Roh or perhaps one of Roh's co-workers had fudged results.
Hwang also told reporters that he has two new scientific reports containing "very significant and important results" that have been submitted for publication in a scientific journal. Those results, he said, would confirm his historic, but now questioned, findings: that he produced embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos genetically matched to patients who could benefit from them.
"Our research team made patient-specific embryonic stem cells, and we have the technology to produce them," Hwang asserted.
Facts were still scarce yesterday as the high-profile meltdown left scientists around the world wondering how the story -- a rare blend of cell biology, reality TV and soap opera -- would play out. The one point on which Hwang and Roh publicly agreed yesterday was that the research article describing the work, co-authored with 23 others and published in the journal Science in May, ought to be retracted.
Editors at Science said yesterday that they had received a formal request for retraction from Hwang and Gerald P. Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh, the sole American author on the paper. "After analyzing the data our team concluded that the data . . . could not be trusted," the request said, according to Donald Kennedy, Science's editor in chief.
Journal policy demands that every author agree to such a request and sign on to a statement detailing what was wrong with the paper, Kennedy said, adding that Hwang has informed the journal that he is undertaking that task now.
"It is clear the authors are going to need to provide more details as to where the errors lie and how they arose," Kennedy said, expressing hope that such a document might reveal the truth behind the crossfire of allegations. Seoul National University and the University of Pittsburgh are conducting investigations.
Kennedy defended the journal's review process, saying innocent errors and even fraud can be very difficult to detect in a manuscript. At some point, he said, a journal must take scientists' reports at face value with the knowledge that errors will typically become apparent as others try to duplicate the work.
He said the Hwang-Schatten paper had not been rushed into print but had in fact been analyzed in detail because its findings marked a major first.
"Obviously . . . a paper that apparently achieves a result that others have tried to get and failed gets subjected to especially careful scrutiny, and I think our peer reviewers gave it that," Kennedy said in a conference call with reporters.
The allegations of fraud relate to some of the most notable biomedical research findings of the past several years, in which Hwang described his team's successful derivation of prized embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos.
Stem cells, which grow inside days-old embryos, have the capacity to morph into virtually every kind of cell in the body and hold promise as all-purpose replacement parts for patients ailing from any number of diseases. Although many teams around the world have isolated stem cells from conventional human embryos created through the fusion of sperm and egg, no one had done so with cloned human embryos.
Cloned embryos, made by the fusion of a person's skin cell and a donated egg whose own DNA has been removed, are genetically identical to the person who donated the initial skin cell. Scientists suspect that since stem cells derived from such embryos would be genetically matched to the person -- presumably a patient who could benefit from a stem cell transplant -- they would be less likely to be rejected by that person's immune system.
No evidence has been presented to call into question those basic findings, described in a 2004 Science article that launched Hwang to global prominence and made him a folk hero in Korea. Nor has anyone raised substantive doubts about another of Hwang's historic achievements -- the first cloning of an adult dog, reported this summer.
The current storm involves a report published in May that claimed the creation of 11 new stem cell cultures, or lines, from cloned embryos with success rates much higher than in the 2004 report -- an improvement in efficiency crucial to the approach becoming medically practical. Among the potential problems are photographs purporting to show different cell lines that instead appear to be copies of a single photo, and mechanical tracings that appear to have been altered or hand drawn.
Earlier this week, Roh claimed that Hwang ordered underlings to fake the photographic evidence and other data. He also claims that most or all of the 11 cell lines do not exist. Hwang has already conceded that some photos were mistakenly substituted for others, but he has repeatedly denied any effort to overstate his accomplishments.
Yesterday, Hwang said that some but not all of his cell lines had succumbed to a fungus infection. He suggested that Roh or another co-worker who had been trying to salvage the dying cells may have secretly swapped other, conventional stem cell lines for the cloned ones after the cloned ones died.
"I am suspecting that my [personalized] cells may have been replaced by MizMedi's cells," Hwang said. "I am truly concerned as to who did such a thing like this for what purpose."
Roh called his own televised news conference after Hwang's, in which he called Hwang a "liar" looking for a scapegoat. Hwang "tries to beat truth with hypocrisy and cheap tricks," Roh was quoted as saying in the International Herald Tribune. "Dr. Hwang is a narrow-minded man who doesn't have the courage to admit that his paper was made with fabrication."
Pittsburgh's Schatten, who first raised alarms about Hwang by abruptly and publicly breaking off their 20-month collaboration in November, continued his weeks-long silence on the matter yesterday.
On Monday, Schatten asked Science to retract his name from the paper, which had listed him as a senior author. Science responded that he could not disassociate himself from the group effort.
"It's a 'sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander' proposition," Kennedy said yesterday. "You have to take the fall if it's wrong."
Special correspondent Joohee Cho in Seoul contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051215/hl_afp/usskoreahealth_051215230715%3b_ylt=A9FJqa16V6ZDADI A3wKJOrgF%3b_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Science says no South Korean stem cell retraction request made
Thu Dec 15, 6:07 PM ET
The US review Science said that it had received no retraction from South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-Suk, the author of a controversial study on stem cell research.
Gerald Schatten, the US co-author of the research published in Science, has withdrawn his name from the report following allegations that the South Korean lead scientist may have doctored the evidence.
Schatten said he has recommended to Hwang that the report be retracted.
South Korean news reports, quoting another researcher, said Hwang has admitted fabricating parts of his research and had asked asked Science to retract his research paper.
But the Science Express website (www.scienceexpress.org) said that as of late Thursday "Science editors said they had not received any such request from Hwang or other team members in Korea."
Hwang reported in an article in the June edition of Science that he had cloned 11 human embryos and had harvested 11 stem cell lines from them.
But the South Korean reports said the team had admitted that at least nine of the 11 stem cell lines had been made up.
Stem cells are master cells that experts say can develop into any organ. They could have a valuable therapeutic use in treating illnesses ranging from cancer to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, according to experts.
Opinion] Stem Cell Research Must Continue
DECEMBER 17, 2005 10:36
http://english.donga.com/image/kor-text.gif (http://english.donga.com/srv/k2srv.php3?biid=2005121775238)
The controversy over Hwang Woo-suk’s stem cell research has become a “truth or false head-on clash” between Hwang and his former research partner Roh Sung-il, the head of Mizmedi Women’s Hospital.
The statements from both parties have conflicted with each other so much that it is hard to tell which are true and which are false.
Just one day after Roh revealed that “all the tailor-made stem cells were fake,” shocking the public, Hwang announced that “the stem cells were replaced by Mizmedi,” and requested the prosecution to investigate.
Hwang’s research is a huge national project. The government has invested 33 billion won (6.5 billion last year, and 26.5 billion this year) in tax money into the research. If Hwang’s statement that “the tailor-made stem cells were replaced by those from Mizmedi Hospital” is true, this would be a serious crime.
However, Roh immediately responded that “this whole thing is a scenario made up by Hwang, who wants to make Kim Seon-jong a victim of this play.” To get to the bottom of the stem cell case, which now may even involve criminal liabilities, an objective and scientific investigation by Seoul National University—and possibly the police—will be required.
It is a disgrace to Korea’s biotechnology industry that Hwang, who was recognized by the whole world after one impressive research result after another, requested his paper be withdrawn from Science magazine because of the grave fault of forging stem cell pictures.
The mistakes made in the process of writing the paper, and the negligence of the research results have faded the glory of all his scientific results of the past years. It was a big mistake for Hwang not to have admitted his faults from the beginning, when doubts about the stem cells in his paper first came up. That aroused suspicion. He also should not have changed his words or remained silent about the doubts.
In addition, duplicating pictures of stem cells and forging pictures cannot be tolerated in scientific circles where truth is the most important value pursued. The fall of Hwang’s credibility inside and outside the country will inevitably impose a big burden on the future research of his team.
Hwang said yesterday that “there are eight more stem cell lines which can be verified through thawing and cultivating.” At this, Roh, who asserted in a TV interview that “there are no stem cells,” changed his words in just a day, saying, “Two of the stem cells have to be verified first.”
At the press conference, he didn’t try to hide his dislike of Hwang, telling reporters that he “has been used and then abandoned,” and that he is “disillusioned.” He also said, “I requested this news conference to get MBC off the hook. ‘PD Diary’ has saved me,” referring to the MBC news program that first reported the suspicions surrounding Hwang’s research.
The police have to examine the complicated connection between Hwang, Mizmedi chairman Roh, and the unidentified informant to “PD Diary.”
Hwang attended the press conference with four researchers who have confirmed the existence of stem cells, and said that he possess microphotographs and other documents that can authenticate his stem cell findings. The investigation team of SNU has to find out whether the paper was forged, the facts were overstated, or how many stem cells were actually made. Hwang and Roh have to actively cooperate in this investigation.
Kim Seon-jong, a researcher at Mizmedi Hospital who has acted as a bridge between the hospital and the SNU research lab, is emerging as a key witness who can clear the suspicions.
Kim should come back to Korea as soon as possible and clarify the truth about what he has done and seen at the hospital and SNU research lab.
Hwang asserted that he has “created customized stem cells and is in possession of the original technology to further develop the stem cells.” He also said that an important and significant paper is currently being examined by a prestigious journal, and another paper is waiting to be published in a near future. Hwang has to prove the existence of the original stem cell technology not through his words, but through his examined papers and research results.
Stem cell research is not a personal matter between Hwang and Roh. The truth of the past research has to be found out through thorough examination and close investigation, but the pace of the follow-up research on stem cell, which is a big hope for Korean science, has to be accelerated. It is truly a national loss that all stem cell research is being trapped in this “truth or false game.”
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2005121775238
carbar
12-20-2005, 03:54 PM
This time from the New Scientist - "Cloning crisis goes from bad to worse"
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825313.600
It's very sad and like this article discusses it seams to involve other papers as well, like Wise said, a fire could burn down the whole forest - but we have another crisis as well, the article here is dated 24 December 2005.
Cloning crisis goes from bad to worse
24 December 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Eugenie Samuel Reich
Rowan Hooper
carbar
12-21-2005, 05:09 AM
Some one got ahead of themselves at the New Scientist! They have now changed the article's date to 20 December 2005. No doubt the 24th will bring another story.
This time from the New Scientist - "Cloning crisis goes from bad to worse"
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825313.600
From that article:But the questions don't end there: two papers from MizMedi on which Hwang is not an author are also being retracted. Hwang's accuser Kim is an author on both, which investigate the biology of non-cloned human ESCs. The first, from Biology of Reproduction (DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.105.046870), was withdrawn after it was shown to contain a photo that is the same as a picture from Hwang's 2005 Science paper. In the second (Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters, vol 579, p 534), images supposed to be from different experiments seem to be duplicates flipped left to right. When asked by New Scientist, lead author Hyun Soo Yoon said the paper contains fabrication and would be retracted.
Actually this would cast doubt on all articles in these scientific publications, if these scientific publications so easily accept "faked" studies.
I haven´t accused Hwang. I swear it.
Wise Young
12-21-2005, 07:52 PM
"It's a 'sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander' proposition," Kennedy said yesterday. "You have to take the fall if it's wrong."
This is a remarkable statement by Don Kennedy, the Editor of Science, regarding Gerry Schatten's attempt to withdraw his name from the paper. It implies that Science considers all the co-authors responsible for any fabrication or fraud that may have occurred. Wise.
rickhemi
12-22-2005, 11:37 AM
This is a remarkable statement by Don Kennedy, the Editor of Science, regarding Gerry Schatten's attempt to withdraw his name from the paper. It implies that Science considers all the co-authors responsible for any fabrication or fraud that may have occurred. Wise.
Wise, at what point will you let your true feelings show? Doesn't all this make you sick? mad? angry?
I would think that life just got a whole lot tougher for ANY scientist working with stem cells.
rickhemi
12-23-2005, 02:23 PM
Wise, it's not healthy to keep it in.
Wise Young
12-24-2005, 03:40 AM
Wise, at what point will you let your true feelings show? Doesn't all this make you sick? mad? angry?
I would think that life just got a whole lot tougher for ANY scientist working with stem cells.
Rick, perhaps you have not read all my posts. I have said several times now that this situation really makes me very sad. It has made things tough for scientists in the field because the stench of scientific fraud is very difficult to overcome. I also can feel the pain of Gerry Schatten. My point below was that Schatten will not be able to separate himself from all of this.
What I don't understand about this whole situation is the thinking that went on behind all of this. The process of science and the fact that these cell lines derived by Woo-Suk Hwang will be studied by many scientists means that this would have come out sooner or later. I find it hard to believe that Woo-Suk Hwang did this just for a blaze of glory. It is so puzzling and I think that there must be more to all of this.
Wise.
rickhemi
12-26-2005, 09:18 AM
Rick, perhaps you have not read all my posts. I have said several times now that this situation really makes me very sad. It has made things tough for scientists in the field because the stench of scientific fraud is very difficult to overcome. I also can feel the pain of Gerry Schatten. My point below was that Schatten will not be able to separate himself from all of this.
What I don't understand about this whole situation is the thinking that went on behind all of this. The process of science and the fact that these cell lines derived by Woo-Suk Hwang will be studied by many scientists means that this would have come out sooner or later. I find it hard to believe that Woo-Suk Hwang did this just for a blaze of glory. It is so puzzling and I think that there must be more to all of this.
Wise.
Thank you Wise. I'm starting to realize that anger is just not part of your makeup.
I was hoping that you would express a little more emotion. You've become a dear friend and brother to so many of us, that we grieve along with you. The thought that someone elses action could have such a negative impact on a good part of the research that you so selflessly have devoted a great deal of your life to, it just makes my blood boil.
I'm just concerned for your well being, and not seeing the anger concerned me.
Wise Young
12-28-2005, 08:18 PM
Thank you Wise. I'm starting to realize that anger is just not part of your makeup.
I was hoping that you would express a little more emotion. You've become a dear friend and brother to so many of us, that we grieve along with you. The thought that someone elses action could have such a negative impact on a good part of the research that you so selflessly have devoted a great deal of your life to, it just makes my blood boil.
I'm just concerned for your well being, and not seeing the anger concerned me.
Rick, thank you for the compliment and care. Like many others, I am becoming inured to this scientific soap opera. It is becoming like one of these Halloween horror flicks. Every time you think that the monster is dead, you heave a sigh of relief and begin to relax, the monster gets up again. However, you don't want to leave the movie theater because you want to know what happens.
I am fortunately blessed with a slow fuse and a body that does not respond adversely to emotions. However, it is true that it is not good to keep emotions like anger inside. But, in this case, I have not been feeling anger, just rather confusion, frustration, and sadness for Hwang and Schatten. Gerry had introduced Woo-Suk to me this past summer. I genuinely like and admire both. They were like brothers to each other, hugging and laughing. When the breakup occurred, I was confused. I was frustrated by what I thought was Korean journalists sensationalizing the egg donation story. Now, I am saddened by the destruction of their careers.
The lessons that we should all learn from this is that you cannot be too careful in science. My whole career, I have always been very careful about what I publish, sometimes repeating studies many times until I am willing to stake my life on the results. I tell my students that they should be willing to stake their lives on their results because other people's lives depend on the results of their science.
Wise.
Wise Young
12-29-2005, 01:24 AM
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/dec/1245143.htm
Test Shows Hwang's Snuppy Cloned Dog
(Korea Times Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)By Kim Tae-gyu
A Korean institute Wednesday said that its DNA tests proved Prof. Hwang Woo-suk had successfully cloned a dog.
HumanPass Wednesday confirmed fingerprinting traces of Snuppy, Hwang's canine clone, matched those of its somatic cell donor, an Afghan hound named Thai, while they demonstrated disparate mitochondrial genotypes. Snuppy was cast under suspicion following revelations that the Korean scientist had fabricated his stem cell research.
``This is an indisputable piece of evidence that Snuppy is a clone. I am sure of the results because I myself watched as Hwang's team extract blood samples from the two dogs,'' HumanPass chief executive Rhee Seung-jae said.
Rhee said that he started the tests this Monday at the request of Hwang and staged the same experiments three times to ensure the credibility of the result.
``When I informed Hwang of the result today (Wednesday), he said it is the natural outcome. He seemed to have confidence in the dog clone,'' Lee said.
Park Se-pill, head of Seoul-based fertility clinic Maria Biotech, said the tests can silence Hwang's critics who have suggested the dog might be a twin created from a split embryo rather than a clone.
``With this, Hwang demonstrated his team's technical prowess in cloning. It brightens the prospects that his team retains the source technologies for stem cell research,'' Park said.
Monique
12-29-2005, 02:00 AM
That's good to hear.
Monique
12-29-2005, 02:01 AM
The lessons that we should all learn from this is that you cannot be too careful in science. My whole career, I have always been very careful about what I publish, sometimes repeating studies many times until I am willing to stake my life on the results. I tell my students that they should be willing to stake their lives on their results because other people's lives depend on the results of their science.
Wise.
Yes Dr. Young, thanks. I've remembered how you've always taught us that so many times recently as we keep hearing about all these controversies.
someone
12-29-2005, 07:44 AM
It may be the case that Dr. Hwang has actually done what he had claimed. And in Jan 05 when his cell lines were infected by fungus He thought that it wouldn't matter if he moves ahead with publication (though partly with a fabricated data) as he atleast possess the source technology. Given the race these scientists running for the coveted first prizes in stem cell technologies and cloning it is not unthinkable it all.
Just my Wild guess
bigbob
12-29-2005, 09:16 AM
I hope "Someone" is right. Looking back at this recent episode, you do see where the business or money aspect has taken hold in science. It's almost like looking at a TV commercial with touched up before and after pictures trying to push a product. The sad part is that the science is expensive and in order to keep the science going one can follow and understand how Hwang might have had to bring in a few Madison Ave. tactics. However I much appreciate integrity as outlined by Dr. Young The lessons that we should all learn from this is that you cannot be too careful in science. My whole career, I have always been very careful about what I publish, sometimes repeating studies many times until I am willing to stake my life on the results. I tell my students that they should be willing to stake their lives on their results because other people's lives depend on the results of their science.
Wise.
Lindox
12-29-2005, 02:01 PM
Reading everything about this mystery..I honestly think this would make a blockbuster novel. And all profits go to medical research.
The screen rights too.
It is a shame Dr. Woo-Suk had to resign before being proved innocent or guilty. I don't know much about the life in Korea. Maybe we westerners just don't have enough understanding to make any type of judgements from only reading press releases.
I believed Snubby was a genuine clone. You could kind of tell it by the way Dr. Woo-Suk acted with her.
I know stupid way to look at things.
Wise Young
12-29-2005, 02:08 PM
Reading everything about this mystery..I honestly think this would make a blockbuster novel. And all profits go to medical research.
The screen rights too.
It is a shame Dr. Woo-Suk had to resign before being proved innocent or guilty. I don't know much about the life in Korea. Maybe we westerners just don't have enough understanding to make any type of judgements from only reading press releases.
I believed Snubby was a genuine clone. You could kind of tell it by the way Dr. Woo-Suk acted with her.
I know stupid way to look at things.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41372000/jpg/_41372779_doggy152.jpg
Snuppy with his nuclear donor "father"
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41372000/jpg/_41372781_pup_bitch250.jpg
Snuppy with his surrogate mother.
Lindox
12-29-2005, 02:55 PM
I wonder why Dr. Hwang didn't clone a yellow lab instead of an afghan hound?
I guess because the afghan is such a beauty..but brains..they need some lab genes.
I bet if you ask him Dr. Hwang would admit he has seen the same exact images from natural mixed breeding too.
In natural breedings of the same breed..you will often find one pup that looks exactly like the dog..and one that looks exactly like the bitch. EXACTLY. Then a couple that have mixed appearances.
Wise Young
12-29-2005, 04:56 PM
Lindox, yes, Snuppy has a much narrower and smaller brain than the surrogate mother. The proof of cloning comes from the clear difference in the ages of snuppy and his "father" donor and the finding that his DNA matched those of the "father" but the mitochondrial genes differed. There is no way of faking that. Wise.
I wonder why Dr. Hwang didn't clone a yellow lab instead of an afghan hound?
I guess because the afghan is such a beauty..but brains..they need some lab genes.
I bet if you ask him Dr. Hwang would admit he has seen the same exact images from natural mixed breeding too.
In natural breedings of the same breed..you will often find one pup that looks exactly like the dog..and one that looks exactly like the bitch. EXACTLY. Then a couple that have mixed appearances.
Wise Young
12-31-2005, 12:21 PM
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8ERAIA00&apc=9002
Disgraced S. Korean scientist defends work
Saturday, December 31, 2005 10:51:58 AM
Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk insisted he has the technology to produce embryonic stem cells matched to different patients even though a panel of his peers said he lied about creating such cells, a newspaper reported Saturday.
A university panel said Thursday that Hwang did not produce any patient-specific stem cell lines as claimed in a paper published in May in the journal Science, dealing a shattering blow to the scientist's already tarnished reputation as a medical pioneer.
But Hwang stood by his work.
"I definitely have the source technology to produce tailored embryonic stem cells," Hwang was quoted as saying in Beopbo, a South Korean Buddhist newspaper. "I can replicate the process anytime."
Mike C
12-31-2005, 12:48 PM
Why am I starting to contemplate that this has all been a very successful North Korean espionage operation? Or maybe some green with envy collegue who would love to do nothing else than see Hwang bite the dust? Sort of like a modified The Fugative. Innocent, yet set up, and now destroyed with almost no one believing you?
Mike C
12-31-2005, 12:50 PM
Wise, any chance that somebody may just take him up on that claim that he really can do it again or is he currently too hot a potato to handle?
Why am I starting to contemplate that this has all been a very successful North Korean espionage operation? Or maybe some green with envy collegue who would love to do nothing else than see Hwang bite the dust? Sort of like a modified The Fugative. Innocent, yet set up, and now destroyed with almost no one believing you?
THANK YOU. That is exactly what crossed my mind, but haven't expressed for fear of being labeled a "conspiracy" nut.
It is highly possible that the above in fact occurred. Imagine the greatest country in the world lagging on the research front.......Imagine a scientist who couldn't be bought out by the pharmaceutical industry which likes nothing best than to shelve promising discoveries that compete with their "profitability"........., and you have the setting ripe for the destruction of a top scientist with the help of his own collaborators who defected to the US to work for Schatten.......
Just a possible scenario......, but who knows maybe it was a simple case of scientific fraud,.......or maybe we'll never find out the real truth.
why dont they let Dr Hwang recreate his stem cells once again... He needs to be given a chance..
bigbob
12-31-2005, 06:09 PM
Hopefully he will
why dont they let Dr Hwang recreate his stem cells once again... He needs to be given a chance..
KBK, I hope a private company will scoop him up.
Wise Young
01-01-2006, 06:24 AM
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200601/kt2006010117055511990.htm
46% Say Give Hwang Another Chance
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
http://photo.hankooki.com/gisaphoto/20060101/kt2200601011719510stem1.jpg
Nearly half of South Korean people still support disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who is accused of fabricating his research on tailor-made cells featured by the U.S. journal Science in 2005, a recent survey showed.
The survey conducted by The Korea Times on Dec. 27-28 last year found that 45.6 percent of respondents said it is desirable to give the former professor at Seoul National University (SNU) ``one more chance’’ for his cloning work.
More than 70 percent of those surveyed were also skeptical about the government’s support for the World Stem Cell Hub at SNU, initiated by the cloning expert last October, without Hwang’s involvement, the poll suggested.
About 95 percent of respondents want the government itself to continue its financial support for the stem cell research rather than redirect the support to a private or scholar level.
Only 11.4 percent were in favor of establishing a new stem cell research center, according to the poll.
The poll, which was co-conducted by Hankook Ilbo, has a plus or minus 3.1-percent margin of error and a 95 percent confidence level.
However, the public support for Hwang decreased to some 37 percent after an investigative panel at his school concluded on Dec. 29 that Hwang’s 2005 paper was fraudulent, according to a poll by radio broadcaster CBS.