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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (718528)	12/16/2005 10:28:00 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769667

demohacks talked big of stem cells in 2004 as universal cure for all -- here is their progress report: Korean Scientist Says He Will Produce Proof of Cloning Study By REUTERS Filed at 8:59 a.m. ET SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean scientist whose work is under intense scrutiny hit back at his accusers on Friday, saying he had proof his team had made patient-tailored stem cells this year and he would produce the evidence soon. Hwang Woo-suk told a televised news conference at Seoul National University five frozen stem cells were in the process of being thawed for analysis. He expected results in 10 days. ``Our six research members made 11 stem cells and all confirmed this,'' Hwang said at the packed briefing in a lecture hall. ``We six researchers have no doubt.'' Hwang said the cells had been badly contaminated by a fungus and he planned to ask prosecutors to investigate his suspicion that they may have been tampered with or replaced. Hwang's team published a study on tailor-made human stem cells in May in the journal Science. The discovery was vital as it could one day lead to treatment for spinal injuries, for example. Hwang said he was retracting the paper from Science because of the uproar, even though he did not doubt his findings. He said a follow-up paper had been submitted to another journal and that would restore faith in his team. Seoul National University said earlier it would step up an investigation into Hwang, the country's top stem-cell scientist, after a close collaborator on Thursday told media that Hwang himself had said some key parts of the paper were fabricated. Hwang, who turned 53 on Thursday, did not directly address the accusations but said his team had notes and pictures of the process to prove they had made the stem cells. ``I was so surprised and embarrassed to see the news reports,'' said a combative Hwang. Hwang's team at Seoul National University published the first scientific paper on cloning a human embryo in 2004 and this year displayed the world's first cloned dog. The case has wide ramifications for the already controversial field of stem-cell research and for the prestige of South Korea, where Hwang has become a folk hero. Hwang -- a charismatic figure pictured with the cloned puppy earlier this year and more recently filmed unshaven in hospital suffering from exhaustion -- had been under scrutiny since November 24 when he apologized for two junior women researchers donating their eggs for his work and not releasing news of that early. BIOTECH SHARES HIT Just two months ago, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun opened a World Stem Cell Hub center, billed as a project to put the country at the forefront of cloning research. ``I am sure anti stem-cell activists will use this to show that there are problems with this science and that it is not effectively regulated,'' said David Winickoff, assistant professor of bioethics at the University of California, Berkeley. Shares in South Korean firms involved in biotechnology -- a key growth area for Asia's fourth-largest economy -- were down by their daily limit of 15 percent. Overall sentiment suffered, too. ``Even though other sectors have no relation to the news, there has been an indirect impact on market sentiment,'' said Kim Joong-hyun, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities. ''From a Korean perspective, the news was shocking.'' A U.S. cloning and stem-cell expert who had lent his name and prestige to Hwang's work, Dr. Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, earlier this week asked to have his name taken off a study he co-authored with Hwang. On Thursday, Roh Sung-il, a hospital administrator and specialist in fertility studies who worked directly with Hwang, said his colleague had admitted there were fabrications in the second study on tailor-made human stem cells. Roh told media nine of the 11 stem-cell lines -- batches -- that were part of the tailored stem study paper were fabricated and the authenticity of the other two was questionable. Reports in South Korean media said some photographic images of the stem-cell lines may have been manipulated to make it appear as if there were 11 separate lines, or batches. Hwang had recently asked Science to correct some images in his study, which Science said did not change any of the findings. In the disputed study, Hwang's team reported they had used a cloning method called somatic cell nuclear transfer to create lines of genetically identical stem cells from nine different patients, most with a rare neurological disease. The study appeared to fulfil one promise of embryonic stem-cell research -- the ability to tailor medicine to individuals, and to study a patient's disease in the laboratory.