Posted for David Cyranoski
Found guilty of embezzlement and bioethical violations but cleared of fraud, Woo Suk Hwang has been handed a 2-year sentence by the Seoul Central District Court.
The sentence, which is suspended for three years and only half the length that prosecutors sought, pleased supporters of the cloning expert and former Seoul University professor. The prosecutors have pledged to appeal.
Hwang was once feted for creating stem cell lines from cloned embryos of patients suffering from a variety of diseases. The accomplishment, which offered the capability to produce an endless supply of stem cells genetically matched to respective patients, turned out to be bogus and his efforts to get eggs required for the cloning procedure turned out to be unethical. (See Nature’s Woo Suk Hwang special.)
In January 2006, while maintaining that he had the ability to do what he claimed, Hwang admitted to falsifying data. In May 2006, he was indicted on charges of fraud, embezzlement and violation of the bioethics law.
But scientific fraud, while certainly not a way to endear oneself to colleagues, would be illegal only if Hwang had used fraudulent data to gain grants. Prosecutors argued that he did dupe two companies, SKGroup and Nonghyup, into supplying research funds using the fraudulent data. The court reportedly rejected the allegations on the grounds that the two companies provided the funding without expectation of benefit.
The court did however find Hwang guilty of purchasing eggs in violation of the country’s bioethics law and of embezzling KRW 590 830 million of government money by filtering it through bank accounts of associates.
The light sentence was reportedly motivated by judge Ki-ryul Bae’s sympathy for Hwang’s dedication to Korean biotechnology and his remorse.
Hwang will now be able to focus on his research career that has surged ahead during the trial which started in May 2006 (see: Hwang verdict imminent).
Many researchers however are not ready to welcome Hwang back. Alan Colman, a stem cell scientist at the Institute of Medical Biology in Singapore, says “It was not just one moment of weakness. The degree of manipulation of the good will of people, particularly fellow scientists, made it more than just simple fraud. In addition, he was implicated in both scientific and ethical misconduct.”
He adds, “The sad thing is that it’s clear he is a talented experimentalist, perhaps at that time, the best at what he was doing. It’s very unfortunate.” Colman says he would not collaborate or review papers from Hwang and argues that Hwang should not be eligible for research funding from public sources for a prolonged period.
At Shiga University of Medical Science in western Japan, Ryuzo Torii takes a similarly harsh view. During 2004 and 2005 Torii burned through large amounts of grant money, time, and monkey eggs trying to reproduce Hwang’s technique in non-human primates.
“Many scientists might feel tempted to do such a thing, but we just cannot do it,” he says. “[People] are forgiving and might recognize him as a researcher again, but I think that is a mistake.”
More
South Korea court convicts Hwang of stem cell fraud – Reuters
Hwang Convicted of Embezzlement, Cleared of Fraud – Korea Times
Image: Park Ji-Hwan / AFP / Getty