Stem cell fraud fired

[Tear Down This Wall]

Disgraced S.Korean stem cell Hwang scientist fired
20 Mar 2006 12:02:18 GMT

Source: Reuters

SEOUL, March 20 (Reuters) - Seoul National University officially dismissed a disgraced stem cell scientist on Monday for leading a team that deliberately fabricated key data in two papers once hailed as landmark studies, but since debunked.

The decision to dismiss Hwang Woo-suk is somewhat symbolic because the stem cell scientist resigned his post at the university in December when an investigation panel said they suspected the team's work was riddled with fraud.

Prosecutors are investigating Hwang on suspicion of criminal fraud and violating the country's bioethics laws.

With the decision from the university's disciplinary committee, Hwang will have his severance pay cut in half and the government will not be able to hire him for five years, media reported.

In addition, the university said it would suspend or cut the salaries of six other professors who were a part of Hwang's team.

Hwang's research had once raised hopes that it could hasten the day when embryonic stem cells could be transplanted into damaged bodies to repair ailments such as severe spinal cord injuries or Parkinson's disease.

[OklahomaTuba]

With the decision from the university's disciplinary committee, Hwang will have his severance pay cut in half and the government will not be able to hire him for five years, media reported.
Damn, poor guy can't work for the gov for 5 years.

Sniff Sniff.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Wonder how many Koreans will immolate themselves in support of him this time around...

[BeetDigger]

But I thought that all of this stem-cell research had been proven to cure everything that is currently incurable. When someone cannot be cured, it is blamed on the lack of stem-cell funding research.

[MamaMia]

Hwang will have his severance pay cut in half Why would he recieve any severance pay at all?

[Dio]

double-post

[Dio]

Hwang will have his severance pay cut in half.

At least they didn't cut his Hwang in half!

[rimshot]

[Ike]

But I thought that all of this stem-cell research had been proven to cure everything that is currently incurable. When someone cannot be cured, it is blamed on the lack of stem-cell funding research.


thats a big misunderstanding that some people just don't get about science...especially in the media. Stem cells might not winding up curing a damn thing. BUT, what we do know is that they show the far more promise right now for learning about how our bodies work and how diseases work than just about any other area of research. thats what we know. maybe their study will lead to cures for lots of incurables, and maybe they wont. nobody can claim something either way. but it is perfectly valid to claim that of all areas of research, stem cells are the most likely to yield results that will be beneficial in the short term.


and about this Korean dude. it's a sad but true part about science that there will always be frauds that fabricate their data. Some people are calling for changes in the peer review process due to things like this, but the truth is, there is no amount of reform you can apply to the peer review process that would have caught this guy. Peer reviewers can't catch fabricated data. The best way to catch it has always been, and will continue to be repetition of the experiments for confirmation or refutation. The media hasn't figured this out yet though unfortunately.

[BeetDigger]

thats a big misunderstanding that some people just don't get about science...especially in the media. Stem cells might not winding up curing a damn thing. BUT, what we do know is that they show the far more promise right now for learning about how our bodies work and how diseases work than just about any other area of research. thats what we know. maybe their study will lead to cures for lots of incurables, and maybe they wont. nobody can claim something either way. but it is perfectly valid to claim that of all areas of research, stem cells are the most likely to yield results that will be beneficial in the short term.



I don't disagree that it is promising. But it also has the ethical dilema as well. But the media focuses on the former and states that it is just religious fanactics that are concerned about hte latter.

The other forms of research, that which uses cells from older people, umbilical blood cord, ... don't have the ethical dilema and offer significant promise. But it is always the embryonic form that everyone hangs their hat on. I hope that someday we can have the embryonic stem cells and work through the ethical issues that it has, but in the mean time, we should be spending as much money as possible on the other forms as they too show great promise.

And while we are at it, isn't it all legal in Korea? Our ban is just in the US. Nothing says that other countries can't do it. Although many other countries do ban it. But we rarely hear about that. It's just mean President Bush who is keeping all of this away from everybody.

[Ike]

I don't disagree that it is promising. But it also has the ethical dilema as well. But the media focuses on the former and states that it is just religious fanactics that are concerned about hte latter.

The other forms of research, that which uses cells from older people, umbilical blood cord, ... don't have the ethical dilema and offer significant promise. But it is always the embryonic form that everyone hangs their hat on. I hope that someday we can have the embryonic stem cells and work through the ethical issues that it has, but in the mean time, we should be spending as much money as possible on the other forms as they too show great promise.

And while we are at it, isn't it all legal in Korea? Our ban is just in the US. Nothing says that other countries can't do it. Although many other countries do ban it. But we rarely hear about that. It's just mean President Bush who is keeping all of this away from everybody.

It is legal in Korea, but they also have some ethical guidelines that must be followed for their procurement. I'm not entirely sure what these guidelines are, but I do know that this particular doctor is suspected to have broken one or more of them.

From what I understand about the issue, there are some differences between adult, umbilical cord and embryonic stem cells that are not insignificant. I also understand that it is the opinion of scientists working with stem cells that the more interesting stem cells are by far the most interesting and possibly the most promising. I don't know why, but I can tell you that when a number of prominent scientists happen to agree on something like this, they are probably right. These people don't say things like this for political reasons. They say these things because they believe those cells are likely to hold the answers to some fundamental questions that they would like to see answered.

I absolutely agree that the procurement of embryonic stem cells carry with them some difficult ethical questions. Nobody wants to study them because of their political views, and quite frankly, I'd rather see the pro-choice movement stop using the prospects of embryonic stem cell research as some kind of support for their pet issue. The ethical difficulties surrounding stem cell research need to be approached from two different sides if our country wants to have the benifits that might come from the research in a manner that everyone is OK with....at least, in my opinion. It's going to have to require some kind of give and take and lots of discussion between both sides, with the idea in mind that we CAN make this happen for the betterment of all. I think that the people for whom ethical science is important need to examine their position for a number of possible procurement techniques, for instance, acquiring embryonic stem cells from discarded fertilized embryos from in-vitrio fertilization. In many cases, these are embryos that will be thrown away in the first place. Can we somehow come to the conclusion that it is OK to study these cells? I don't know. And what about other methods? From the science side, this is a challenge. Scientists need to get creative and try to find other methods of extracting these cells...as many as they can possibly find, and collaborate then with ethicists to find a method of extraction that isr either not fatal or harmful to the embryo, or that is humane enough to be alright enough in the eyes of most ethicists.

This is one of those situations where the advancement of society through science will not happen as long as the two sides of the argument are constantly at odds with one another, but rather when they sit down and start working collaboratively.

[BeetDigger]

It is legal in Korea, but they also have some ethical guidelines that must be followed for their procurement. I'm not entirely sure what these guidelines are, but I do know that this particular doctor is suspected to have broken one or more of them.

From what I understand about the issue, there are some differences between adult, umbilical cord and embryonic stem cells that are not insignificant. I also understand that it is the opinion of scientists working with stem cells that the more interesting stem cells are by far the most interesting and possibly the most promising. I don't know why, but I can tell you that when a number of prominent scientists happen to agree on something like this, they are probably right. These people don't say things like this for political reasons. They say these things because they believe those cells are likely to hold the answers to some fundamental questions that they would like to see answered.

I absolutely agree that the procurement of embryonic stem cells carry with them some difficult ethical questions. Nobody wants to study them because of their political views, and quite frankly, I'd rather see the pro-choice movement stop using the prospects of embryonic stem cell research as some kind of support for their pet issue. The ethical difficulties surrounding stem cell research need to be approached from two different sides if our country wants to have the benifits that might come from the research in a manner that everyone is OK with....at least, in my opinion. It's going to have to require some kind of give and take and lots of discussion between both sides, with the idea in mind that we CAN make this happen for the betterment of all. I think that the people for whom ethical science is important need to examine their position for a number of possible procurement techniques, for instance, acquiring embryonic stem cells from discarded fertilized embryos from in-vitrio fertilization. In many cases, these are embryos that will be thrown away in the first place. Can we somehow come to the conclusion that it is OK to study these cells? I don't know. And what about other methods? From the science side, this is a challenge. Scientists need to get creative and try to find other methods of extracting these cells...as many as they can possibly find, and collaborate then with ethicists to find a method of extraction that isr either not fatal or harmful to the embryo, or that is humane enough to be alright enough in the eyes of most ethicists.

This is one of those situations where the advancement of society through science will not happen as long as the two sides of the argument are constantly at odds with one another, but rather when they sit down and start working collaboratively.


Good post.

But what I continue to go back to, which is what my original post poked at, is that there are certain people who have no problem with the ethical issues and who will always put the blame on the fact that we don't have embryonic research. It's as if it is some magical research that will cure everything. At some point, we will have the ethical dilema solved. Until then, lets focus on what we DO have and put all of our efforts into those studies. The problems that have the potential to be solved through the non-embryonic studies are large and very worthwhile. Let's focus on those at least.

I'm not necessarily saying that I do or don't have an ethical problem with using embyos. However, I know that there are a lot of people who do have an ethical problem with it. I find it interesting when people say that those with ethical problems should just step aside with their beliefs since there is good to be done with this research. I think that lots of good could come from experimental medical research done on people who are in prison with no chance for parole, but I doubt I would get very far in proposing it.

[mdklatt]

But what I continue to go back to, which is what my original post poked at, is that there are certain people who have no problem with the ethical issues and who will always put the blame on the fact that we don't have embryonic research.

You're always going to have shrill activists on both sides. Science is caught in the middle.

[Petro-Sooner]

Does this have anything to do with crinoid stem cell research?










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