Panel Finds Hwang Deliberately Fabricated Results Hwang Probe Must Leave no Stone Unturned Anger, Hurt Greet Finding That Hwang Faked Research DNA Results Take Hwang Probe to Final Stage Hwang Associates Gave Key Witness US$30,000 Hwang Probe Close to Wrapping Up 2004 Episode Fresh Success Claim Adds Confusion in Hwang Scandal Vatican Pitches Into Hwang Debate Patient-Specific Stem Cells Do Not Exist World Stem Cell Scientists Seek Strict Ethics Guidelines SNU President Apologizes for Hwang Fraud Hwang and Co-Authors Relieved of Duties Hwang, Adversaries Questioned in Criminal Probe Hwang Sacked as Probe Exonerates Team Members

It is elementary that scientists keep meticulous records so their experiments can be recreated under the same conditions later. If such data are not available, the reasonable suspicion must be that Hwang’s article in May did not simply inflate two stem cells into 11 but covered up the fact that the experiment failed.

Prof. Hwang claims that someone must have switched his cloned stem cells in the early stage. Is he saying he published the article although the team never confirmed through DNA analysis that the cells in their Petri dishes really matched patients’ DNA? The logic is all askew. Experts point out that stem cells from fertilized embryos propagate at a different speed to those from cloned ones. It is therefore out of the question that the team, who must have observed the stem cells every day, would have been unaware if someone switched them. What remains now is to find out whether a 2004 Science article that formed the basis for the later paper was also a fabrication. We will have our answer soon.

Intriguing though the mystery may be, the frustration of patients who pinned their hopes on a stem cell cure must be unbearable. A 12-year-old boy suffering from spinal paralysis who offered his cells to Hwang's team is said to have asked his father Kim Je-eon, "Will I never be able to stand up again?" Our country has 100,000 diabetic children and 130,000 spinal paralysis patients. It was they and their families who spread azaleas in front of Prof. Hwang's laboratory when it seemed he was the victim of a slanderous campaign, pleading with him to come back and continue the work that had galvanized their hopes. The government, which poured more than W65 billion (US$65 million) into the project and touted Hwang’s research as if a cure for incurable diseases was just around the corner, owes these patients at least an explanation.