South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk resigned from his position as a university professor on Friday after his school said he had damaged the scientific community by fabricating the results of at least nine of 11 stem-cell lines he claimed to have created. Yes, now we know that in addition to being unethical, Hwang's work is fraudulent.
"I sincerely apologize to the people for creating a shock and disappointment," Hwang told reporters as he was leaving his office at the university. "With an apologetic heart ... I step down as professor of Seoul National University."
I'd like to know to what extent Hwang's work was used within the United States to motivate legislation supportive of embryonic stem cell research. For example, there is this article which reports the woeful state of U.S. funding that caused American scientists to fall behind Korea:
Just a few years ago, Michigan State University scientist Jose Cibelli was considered the leading expert on cloning human embryos to treat and study disease. Now, there's no debate that the cloning king is Hwang Woo-suk of Seoul National University.While Korean officials are now complaining about some $40 million in research funding that has apparently been wasted, consider the billions of U.S. dollars that were allocated because politicians voted "yes", at least in part, due to the "promise" of Hwang's work.Hwang is succeeding where the United States is failing because generous South Korean government support helped him create an efficient cloning factory. In his lab, an army of researchers trained in specialized individual tasks mans a high-tech assembly line that often operates 24 hours a day, Cibelli and others say.
In contrast, the few U.S. researchers eager to clone are left scrambling for funds and staff and must contend with legal vagaries as well as staunch opposition from President Bush, who reaffirmed his position on Friday with a veto threat.
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In California, researchers are hopeful that a new $3 billion stem cell research institute will jump-start the moribund U.S. cloning field. The voter-approved law that created the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine in November allows for the funding of human cloning for research.
"This is work we need to be doing here," said Zach Hall, the [California Institute of Regenerative Medicine ] interim president. "We are falling behind."
ESC research hype is being exposed and resources will most likely be shifted to endeavors that may actually help people. However, it is a poor reflection on our culture that a scientist had to commit fraud for ESC supporters to lose enthusiasm for the destruction of human life.
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