Hwang defends himself: I did not lie
The scientist said the results of his research were stolen; he contested the findings of the Seoul University inquiry which found that the stem cells created for 11 patients never existed.
Seoul (AsiaNews) Hwang Woo-suk has come out in his own defence, denying that the results of his research were falsified. In an interview with a Buddhist daily newspaper, Beopbo, the scientist said his reports were not manipulated and he charged that the cells produced by his experiments had been stolen. He invited investigators to undertake an inquiry to clarify what happened.
Hwang, once upheld as a national hero for his breakthroughs in the field of cloning, now stands accused of having manipulated the results of his research, which made him rise to fame as the first scientist to clone a human embryo. The results of his research had been published in the American journal, Science.
"It is certain that a switch was made and experts will be able to see this immediately. An investigation by prosecutors will only take about two days," he said. Early on in December, Hwang accused Kim Seon-jong the first to admit to duplicating photographs of DNA carried in Hwang's paper of swapping stem cells with fertilized eggs from MizMedi Hospital. However, a survey has found that the majority of Koreans don't believe Hwang's allegations.
On Thursday, the investigation panel of Seoul National University, where the scientist worked until last week, said "tailored" stem cell lines created for 11 patients did not in fact exist, confirming that that Hwang's results had been fabricated. Meanwhile, a second university inquiry to verify the authenticity of the first ever cloning of a dog is still under way.
At the end of the interview Hwang, a believer in Buddhism told Beopbo: "I am trying to make some bows to Buddha everyday, but I will make efforts to make 108 bows a day." 108 bows is an ascetic practice in Buddhism.
Hwang was forced to resign from all public posts after admitting on 24 November that he had violated ethical guidelines by using in his research eggs donated by two female assistants working under him. But he denied that the researchers were forced to donate their eggs, saying he was not aware of how exactly the eggs were procured for the experiments.
Fr Lee Dong-ik Remigio, professor at the Catholic University of Seoul and member of the National Ethics Committee, does not share this view. In an interview with the Catholic PBS radio, he said "there are suspicions that he made some kind of agreement with his researchers before the paper came out in 2004. It shows there may have been an atmosphere of coercion, forcing them to donate their ova." The priest recalled hearing that a researcher under Hwang had made a testimony to that effect. "So I raised the issue at a meeting of the committee on Friday, and the committee will try to ascertain the truth," he said.
Regarding the scandal of falsification of evidence, Prof. Ahn Kyu-ri, a Catholic researcher who collaborated with Hwang at Seoul National University, made her position public through a email to PBC. She expressed her deep regret for the scandal especially for patients suffering from incurable diseases who have now been disillusioned. "I have realized the reality that life is the most important thing, and that the truth will shine only when hope and love are together. I believed stem cells existed but now I am not convinced. Now I want to return to the patients and not to make Cardinal Kim shed any more tears".
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