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By Hilary White

PITTSBURGH, February 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The US collaborator of disgraced Korean cloning doctor Hwang Woo Suk, has been found by an independent investigation to be innocent of participating in the fraudulent cloning “breakthroughs,” of his university.

Dr. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh was among the first to blow the whistle on the Korean cloning scandal and had asked that his name be removed from the Science journal articles on the bogus research.

The University of Pittsburgh conducted an investigation into Schatten’s role in the affair and has concluded that he “did not deliberately fabricate data himself,” though he committed “a serious failure that facilitated the publication” of the paper by Hwang.

The university has recommended no disciplinary action against Schatten who serves as vice chair for research development and professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and cell biology and physiology at the university’s medical school.

The scandal has been receiving some critical examination in the research community since it broke late last year. Some researchers described the debacle as a “PR disaster” while others are taking the opportunity to rethink the problem of media hype surrounding stem cell and cloning news, as well as the temptations presented by the possibility of huge research funding grants.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
  Cloning Whistleblower says Korean Cloning Breakthrough “Fabricated”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05121404.html