Cloning articles to be retracted

2006-01-12 11:27

Washington - United States research journal Science said on Tuesday it was retracting a second article by disgraced South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-Suk, who could face criminal charges over fraudulent research.

Science's editor Donald Kennedy also said in a video statement that such faked research was disturbing, but despite intricate peer review policies, was hard to expose and probably could never be eliminated.

Science said it would retract an article by Hwang from 2004 in which he claimed to have derived stem cells from a human embryo.

A probe by Seoul National University found earlier on Tuesday that the experiment had been faked.

The journal said last week it would retract an article by Hwang and others from May last year, in which the scientist had detailed what was then regarded as ground breaking work on tailoring stem cells.

"Fraudulent research is a particularly disturbing event, because it threatens an enterprise built on trust," Kennedy said.

"Fortunately, such cases are rare - but they damage all of us."

The investigation in Seoul said Hwang, 52, had produced no stem cells at all and his claims of a breakthrough in stem cell technology were bogus.

But the South Korean probe said Hwang's research team had indeed created the world's first cloned dog last year.

- AFP