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)
