"Implosion" of Cloners

Think of a house of cards, and there's a strong wind blowing the fallen cards all over the place.

The work of Korean veterinarian, Dr. Woo Suk Hwang, the leader in cloning research until a couple of weeks ago, is under fire from his own former staff, colleagues and the press. Science, the Journal that published (see, "Korean team speeds up creation of cloned human stem cells") the report concerning the production of 11 human embryonic stem cell lines derived from cloned embryos, has been asked to retract the article (Sorry, subscription only - look at thte bottom of this post for quotes) by one of the co-authors and a pretty impressive list of names. One of the detractors is Ian Wilmut, who gained fame for cloning Dolly the sheep.

Personally, I'm concerned about what the blow up could mean for scientific research and reporting in general. The big question is, like so much of science these days, an echo of the political questions of "who knew, and when." More than likely prejudices for and against cloning, embryonic stem cells and eugenics played a large part in both the early enthusiastic acceptance of the first report and the fuss and bother we're going to see in the next year.

Now, add in the FDA, Merck and Vioxx.

Where is the scientific process in these dramas and how do we trust any thing we read if Science and a group of supposed leaders can be fooled? And were they really fooled?

Thanks to Bioethics.net for many of the links.

I do hope that Dr. Hwang gets well. He's been in and out of the hospital, reportedly with bleeding ulcers, and seeking solace at a Buddhist monastery.


From the letter to Science:

Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Ian Wilmut, Michael D. West, Robert Lanza, John D. Gearhart, Austin Smith, Alan Colman, Alan Trounson, Keith H. Campbell
". . . In addition to a willingness to facilitate the independent verification of published results, it may be helpful to institute an internet database to publish the DNA fingerprinting and microsatellite data on new lines to ensure against the cross-contamination of cell cultures or scientific misconduct."