Updated Nov.28,2005 22:08 KST

MBC Team Charges Stem Cell Research ¡®a Sham¡¯

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Controversy surrounding the origin of egg cells used in research by cloning pioneer Prof. Hwang Woo-suk is now leading to questions about the research results the team published in Science magazine.

MBC's ¡°PD Diary¡± said a researcher on Hwang¡¯s team who took part in the somatic cloning of stem cells claimed the results published by Science in 2004 were a collection of falsehoods.

The researcher maintains that Hwang's team fabricated data because in reality it failed to clone a somatic cell and instead used a frozen embryo from the hospital to make stem cells. The researcher says the team also lied about cloning a cow.

Starting from these allegations, ¡°PD Diary¡± in August started gathering data from other researchers in Hwang's team. Producers initially pretended they were making a documentary on stem cells, and were thus able to win cooperation from the scientists.

But in September, ¡°PD Diary¡± started working on a full-fledged expose of the research itself, insisting it was fabricated. In the process the producers allegedly pressured members of Hwang¡¯s team warning them Hwang would soon be punished. The geneticist¡¯s side says ¡°PD Diary¡± turned members of the team against one another and used hidden cameras in their efforts to dig up dirt on Hwang.

In mid-October, the ¡°PD Diary¡± crew went to the University of Pittsburgh and met with researchers dispatched there by Hwang. During that time, one of them was allegedly hospitalized for 10 days due to stress from being hounded by reporters. In November, Prof. Gerald Schatten of the University, a key collaborator of Hwang¡¯s, obtained new information on the team¡¯s occyte procurement, and a researcher who had donated ova for Hwang¡¯s research admitted this to Schatten.

Schatten announced he was severing ties with Hwang on Nov.12. On Nov. 22, ¡°PD Diary¡± aired its expose, including revelations that the junior researchers donated egg cells and women were paid for occyte donations. The ¡°PD Diary¡± producers have reportedly commissioned an independent authority to check Hwang¡¯s documentation.

After cloning a human embryo from a somatic cell, Hwang dispatched three team members to work with Schatten toward cloned monkey embryos last December. The inference is that if Hwang¡¯s technology for cloning human embryos was fabricated, the monkey embryos cloned by Schatten¡¯s team would also be a sham.

A Stem Cell Hub source said, ¡°I can't understand why they are insisting that truths confirmed by respected world authorities including Dr. Ian Wilmut, the creator of the cloned sheep Dolly, are falsehoods.¡± He added the laboratory of Seoul National University¡¯s veterinary department was continuously generating stem cells.

The source charged ¡°PD Diary¡± with pathological distrust and a refusal to listen, but producers are adamant they will continue their investigation.

(englishnews@chosun.com )


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