SEE ALSO: ‘I have been much blessed’ – Watson retires

After DNA Nobel Prize winner James Watson stirred up a fuss with his comments to the Sunday Times Magazine earlier this week (see Great Beyond post), he has apologised for and clarified his statements; but the eminant eminent genetics institute Cold Spring Harbor Lab (where Watson has been director, president and chancellor and now has ‘administrative duties’) has suspended him until further notice (statement). The London Science Museum also cancelled a sold-out lecture Watson was scheduled to make today.

Watson told the Associated Press:

“I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said. To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief.”

The Sunday Times has said that they have their original interview with Watson on tape (AP).