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Cloning Whistleblower says Korean Cloning Breakthrough “Fabricated”

By Hilary White
 
PITTSBURGH, December 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  The US researcher formerly working with Korea’s foremost cloning research team has blown the whistle a second time on Hwang Woo-suk, the team’s leader. Gerald Schatten, has revealed that he believes some of Dr. Hwang’s cloning advances may have been “fabricated” according to a report from the Associated Press.
 
In May, LifeSiteNews.com reported that the international scientific community was lauding the Korean team for being the first to develop specified stem cells that could be used to treat patients with various diseases without risk of tissue rejection, a major stumbling block for therapeutic applications of embryonic stem cells.
 
Now, the breakthrough for which Hwang is most famous is being called into question by a former member of his own team. Dr. Schatten, in a letter to Science, said that he has re-evaluated Hwang’s research data and found that “new problematic information, now casts substantial doubts about the paper's accuracy.”
 
“Over the weekend, I received allegations from someone involved with the experiments that certain elements of the report may be fabricated,” Schatten wrote.
 
Dr. Schatten’s scientific credibility is beyond dispute as the vice chair for research development and professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and cell biology and physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Schatten is also deputy director for biotechnology development at the university-affiliated Magee-Women’s Research Institute.
 
Seoul National University has launched an investigation into the validity of Hwang’s research.
 
Dr. Hwang, in statements to the international press, has shown himself to be in a profound state of moral disconnect by insisting that not only is he not creating human clones, but that human cloning is immoral and probably impossible. When he refers to  “human cloning,” however, he means the creation of a cloned person who will be allowed to live past the embryonic stage and brought to term. The confusion surrounding terminology was first created by bioethicists and promoted by a committed anti-life media, and has been of great use to Hwang’s public image as a scientific “folk hero.”
 
His ethical confusion, however, has started to create problems even in the laissez faire attitude of modern medical and scientific ethics. Schatten denounced Hwang in November for obtaining human ova for his experiments without following proper ethical protocols. Hwang made a public apology at the time and admitted that he had lied to cover his tracks.
 
Korean Cloning Scientist “Disgraced”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05112405.html
 
Korean Cloning Doctor Creates and Kills Clones from Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05052009.html

 

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