SCI/TECH: Cloning Pioneer to Withdraw Stem Cell Paper Because Samples Were Faked

South Korean professor and cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk has asked that his highly acclaimed research paper on stem cell research be removed from publication after it was learned that most of the stem cells produced for the paper were faked. Allegedly, Hwang had pressured a former (unnamed) scientist at his lab to fake data to make it look like there were 11 stem cell colonies when in fact there were only two or three. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, has now called for caution regarding the reports on Hwang's work.



This is a pretty good example of what lengths researchers will go to keep their funding alive while using false pretenses and it makes one wonder just who can you trust when it comes to research papers.

At least the president of South Korea is asking people to keep and eye on him, however, I think he should loose all his funding and credentials within the medical community. Theses types of actions are totally uncalled for, especially when you consider the fact that the main stream media is pushing the information as being true when it is in fact false.


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A doctor who provided human eggs for research by cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said in a broadcast Thursday that the South Korean scientist agreed to withdraw a key research paper because most of the stem cells produced for the article were faked.

This is the most confusing introductory sentence I have ever seen in a news story.

Beyond that, this is an utter outrage that a professional scientist would stoop to such unethical behavior. He and his staff should be criminally prosecuted for fraud, as I'm sure that there were funds allocated for this research based on the bogus data.

This story broke just a few weeks ago:

www.thefactis.org...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It seems the Doctor has been just a little stressed out over the affair:

newsfromrussia.com...

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Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
This is the most confusing introductory sentence I have ever seen in a news story.

I would attribute that the Korean writers or a translation issue, but I am not sure it did seem odd to me the way it was written though. Thanks for the other links. I was not aware he had also resigned as this story did not mention that detail. Just one of those details the pro media probably does not want others to know if you ask me, or perhaps the writer was not aware he had resigned, who knows.

By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer

Well, you'd think that someone named Burt Herman would a native English speaker, but you never know.

Um the data wasn't fraud but they got stem cells from women who worked at the lab that agreed to give their stem cells when they claimed to the government they didn't in order to keep the funding. So, the data and scientific results are all legit they just were trying to get more funding.

Originally posted by RedDragon
Um the data wasn't fraud but they got stem cells from women who worked at the lab that agreed to give their stem cells when they claimed to the government they didn't in order to keep the funding. So, the data and scientific results are all legit they just were trying to get more funding.

Yes it was fraud by Definition when something is fake it is fraud.

fake1 (f³k) adj. 1. Having a false or misleading appearance; fraudulent

fraud·u·lent (frô“j…-l…nt) adj. 1. Engaging in fraud

The original issue, if i recall, was that he harvested cells from an employee/fellow researcher in his lab, and this is considered a strong conflict of interest. Then we started hearing that the results had been fudged, and now, most recently, that he said there were, say, 11 or 21 stem cell lines produced when there were really only 2, maybe 3. All told, he might've had none at all, the man is simply a liar.

In science, your reputation is paramount. If you are a fabricator and liar, people can't ever trust anything you say. This SK researcher also claims to have cloned a dog, Snuppy, maybe thats a lie too, who knows what else he's been lying about.

This is also why you have the other researcher wanting his name removed, he didn't, apparently, have anything to do with the fabricated part. Rather than say that he had nothign to do with it, he doesn't even want to be associated with the paper at all anymore, for fear of his reputation being sullied.

Originally posted by Nygdan
This is also why you have the other researcher wanting his name removed, he didn't, apparently, have anything to do with the fabricated part.

Nygdan who is this 2nd researcher wanting to be removed claiming he had nothing to do with the fabricated part?

From what I can gather only one person is asking that the paper be removed from publication and that is Hwang who allegedly pressured others to gather the info for him.

A fourth researcher is now going to double check all of the samples to see if all of them were faked.

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