"Last May, a stunning research paper in Science, one of the world's most respected scientific journals, instantly changed the tenor of the debate over cloning human embryos and extracting their stem cells. A team of South Korean scientists reported in the paper that they had figured out how to do this work so efficiently that the great hope of researchers and patients - to obtain stem cells that were an exact match of a patient's - seemed easily within sight.
But that rosy future has been cast into doubt with the statement last month by Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, who led the team that wrote the paper, that it contained fabricated evidence. Questions have also been raised about earlier research and a new debate has begun.
Scientists and ethicists caution that the full story is not in, but they are staggered by how the research has unraveled so far...."
Well, the NY Times has picked this up, and while they quote scientists who urge caution, it appears that the paper in Science is going to be withdrawn due to academic fraud.
This underscores the need for continuing research in the use of umbilical and adult stem cells, which has shown promising results lately. See earlier blog entries on November 2, October 11, and October 3 for further information and links to the original articles.
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