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| What Lessons Should Be Learned from S.Korean Researcher's Scandal? |
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South Korean clone researcher Hwang Woo-suk was proved to be a bold cheater, not a national hero, with the releasing of the final report on investigation over his stem cell researches on Tuesday. A special panel of the Seoul National University (SNU) judged in its conclusive report that Hwang's two papers on human embryonic stem cells both were fabricated. In the paper published in February 2004 by US- based journal of Science, Hwang's team claimed it successfully cloned human embryo and extracted a stem cell line from it for the first time in the world. Hwang's team claimed in the paper published by Science in May 2005 that it successfully produced 11 patient-tailored stem cell lines. The development cited in the paper was widely viewed an important progress in the therapeutic cloning research. The two papers made Hwang quickly become top-ranking scientist major in stem cell research and an idol much loved by local people. However, Tuesday's report made clear that Hwang's team's so- called epoch-making success is only a shell game, with which Hwang's team gained honor, huge financial support and trust. How dare Hwang to cheat the more than 47 million population of the country who pinned much hope on his research? How dare Hwang to make a fool of the South Korean government who gave the title of "supreme scientist" to him? What kind of lessons should be learned from the scandal? Hwang's "success" stirred a bio-engineering fever in the Asian country. Even some housewives showed their strong ardor to the stem cell research by making registration to donate their ova. Especially from early 2004, like a film superstar, Hwang almost appeared daily in various media interviews and public events, which made his popularity much high among local people. Local people also held him as national hero and treasure, for they thought Hwang brought the country stand in the front line concerning to stem cell research in the international community. Media's lavished praising reports also made local people deem Hwang is the savior of the patients suffering from hard-to-cure diseases. Hwang became a symbol -- a symbol of South Korea's international image and future of the country. That's why the debates over the ethical and authenticity controversy surrounding Hwang's research became a one not within scientific circle, but among almost all the local people, beyond ages, gender, vocations and religions. As a result, when the scandal came to spotlight, it delivered a heavy blow to South Korean people morally. Fortunately, local people already started self-reflection. Many local netizens expressed their view on website that in future they need more rational judge than emotional feeling when facing such case. The South Korean government is under fire of omitting supervise of Hwang's research, which was promoted as "National Hopeful Project for 21st Century" by the government in last year. South Korean government set a monitoring team to supervise Hwang 's sensitive research in May 2004. However, critics noted that the government failed to play a supervisory role after providing taxpayer's money to the research team except holding one meeting in the past one and half years. Since 1998, South Korean government have provided 65.8 billion won (US$65.9 million) to Hwang, the largest ever spent by the country on a single research group, according to a statistic made by a local political party. But the Seoul government failed to verify the spending of the subsidies. In wake of the shameful scandal, South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) had announced it will retract financial support to Hwang's team. Earlier Tuesday, the ministry also said it plans to overhaul the nation's bioethics law in the first half of this year, including those sections related to human egg donation. The ministry is mulling to set up special bodies to manage the donated eggs so that the government can conduct supervise on the donation process. Earlier in the day, the SNU special panel said Hwang's team had received 2,061 eggs from 129 women since November 2002, some of which were provided by Hwang's subordinate researchers. South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan also plans to chair a meeting of science-related ministers and presidential secretaries on Wednesday. The meeting is hoped to assess the cause of the scandal and discuss fellow up measures. Much lessons should be learned from Hwang's case. The scandal hurt the country in the short run, but may help South Korea to set up a real healthy system for bio-engineering research in the long run, pointed out some scientists here. (Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2006) |
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