SOUTH KOREA: Research that gave hope to millions of people with incurable diseases has been put "back on the starting line" by one of the worst cases of scientific fraud, experts and patients groups warned yesterday.
Dr Woo-suk Hwang was forced to quit his post at South Korea's leading academic institution, Seoul National University, following an investigation into his apparently pioneering work on human cloning.
Alison Murdoch, who led the team at Newcastle, England's Fertility Centre that cloned the first human embryo in Europe, said the search for stem-cell therapies to cure conditions such as Parkinson's, diabetes and spinal cord injury had been seriously damaged. "We're back on the starting line. When Hwang's work was published, we assumed it was just a case of the rest of us learning how to do it."
Dr Hwang published papers in which he claimed to have achieved two world firsts by cloning a human embryo and a dog, and raised hopes for new cures by claiming to create stem cells tailored to patients with diseases. However, a panel of nine experts accused Dr Hwang of "major misconduct that undermines the fundamentals of science". They said he had falsified at least nine of 11 embryonic stem cell lines announced in a research paper published in May.
Patient groups reacted with dismay to yesterday's announcement. "This is very disappointing and does set back research that could lead to effective treatments for motor neurone disease," said Brian Dickie, director of research development at the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
"However, we believe the scientific rationale behind therapeutic cloning is sound, and that it still offers a significant opportunity for achieving a breakthrough." - (Guardian service)