Or let us say you idolize a certain person which served as your inspiration and someone you look up to then later on you will find out that he/she was not the exact person you knew him/her to be.  This person may
be hooked on drugs, a gambler or a trouble maker etc.  How would you feel?  Shattered and betrayed perhaps.

This is exactly what most South Koreans felt when scientist South Korean Hwang woo-suk allegedly fabricated his data with regards to custom-cloned stem cells for 11 humans.  Cable news carried scenes where most
South Koreans were seen crying simply because Hwang was regarded as a national hero in South Korea for spearheading the creation of the World Stem Cell Hub at Seoul National University.

In February 2004, Hwang's team stunned the world by announcing it had cloned 30 human embryos and harvested stem cells from them using a technique called "somatic cell nuclear transfer". No one had ever cloned so many embryos at once, watched them grow to such an advanced stage, and then used them as sources for stem cells. In May, his team announced it had created 11 new stem-cell lines tailored to individual people, taking genetic material from each person and inserting it into a donated egg.

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body. Serving as a sort of repair system for the body, they can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.  The development of stem cell lines that can produce many tissues of the human body is an important scientific breakthrough. This research has the potential to revolutionize the practice of medicine and improve the quality and length of life. Given the enormous promise of stem cells therapies for so many
devastating diseases.

On Nov. 24, 2005, South Korea's health ministry ascertained that two junior researchers in Hwang's lab had donated their own eggs. That was not against Korean law but it was a terrible violation of ethical standards. It also emerged that 20 other women had been paid for their eggs.  Hwang neither made the payments nor pressured the women for their eggs. But when Hwang found out about it, he did not divulge it to anyone.  On
Nov. 25, Hwang publicly apologized for the ethical lapses and quit as head of the World Stem Cell Hub, an international project he had launched in October.

Hwang initially denied he faked the research but admitted that only three of the embryonic stem cell lines had passed the necessary test to prove their viability.  He also claimed that he was duped by other scientists on his team who, he has suggested swapped conventional stem cells from the MizMedi fertility clinic in Seoul with his custom-made cells. And later on he asserted some of the stem cell lines had been destroyed by fungi, but that he was thawing five frozen samples to prove he had actually created cloned embryos and derived stem cells from them.

Investigators find Hwang's story hard to believe given that:

1.  A junior researcher said that Hwang had actually forced him to submit duplicates photos to make it appear that his experiments had succeeded beyond their actual merit. Another of Hwang's colleagues claimed that the second experiment had required hundreds more eggs than reported. If true, it would mean that the egg efficiency problem with human therapeutic cloning remains unsolved.

2.  Dr. Roh Sung-il, a colleague of Hwang and a co-author of a paper in the journal Science told the Korean television station MBC that Hwang made statements totally contrary to what we have believed is right and
revealed that nine of the 11 stem-cell lines he had said he created didn't even exist.

3.  Kim Seon-Jeong, a former key researcher on Hwang's team has said he faked data for Hwang's 2005 paper on the orders of his then boss, that the so-called patient-specific stem cells did not genetically match donor cells.  Kim also denied any involvement in the cell swapping incident claim by Hwang.

Finally, the big blow to Hwang's discovery and defense came.  The nine-member panel from Seoul National University investigating irregularities in Hwang's research, said the DNA of nine of the 11 stem cell samples
claimed to be capable of developing into patient-specific stem cells did not match those of their donors. Much of the evidence for those nine colonies, the panel had said, involved doctored photographs of two other colonies.  Roe Jung Hye, head of the panel and the university's dean of research affairs said the panel believe Dr. Hwang's team doesn't have scientific data to prove that it has produced such stem cells and found Hwang had intentionally fabricated research in his study published by the U.S. Journal Science.  The panel is now investigating another claim made by Hwang to have produced the world's first cloned dog named "Snuppy".

Seven scientist including Ian Wilmut, the man who cloned "Dolly" the sheep suggested that Hwang should submit his research to an independent analysis essentially a simple paternity test that would prove all 11
stem cell lines were derived from separate patients.  Wilmut said he subjected his data to outside expert scrutiny to fend off baseless accusations over Dolly's nativity.

What drove Dr. Hwang woo-suk to make such false claims?  Frustrations and maybe the glitters of fame and fortune.  Accepting one's failure is a hard pill to swallow to some.  If results cannot be achieved despite
working hard to prove something that no one has proven, frustrations are surely to set in.  And the promise of fame, fortune and being the pioneer adds pressure and may drive someone to do something beyond his own
imagination.  Perhaps the refusal to accept failures or mistakes coupled with the promise of popularity and the respect of his peers, Hwang had no choice but to do what he did.  But of course, we still have to wait for the final verdict of the investigating panel before we can really judge Hwang.  He is still innocent until proven guilty.

This stem-cell scandal is considered one of the biggest if not the biggest setback to science and has disgraced the South Koreans to a certain extent.  A lot of studies, experiments, articles have been written using Hwang's discovery as basis, all of which should be done again from scratch, not to mention the money and time spent to do all these studies. The ability to clone certain cells to be used for medical treatment is again up in the air whether it could be done or not.  Researchers still believe that human cell cloning is a technical problem that will be solved, not a biological impossibility. The silver lining here is that researchers especially the South Koreans will work harder to prove that indeed human cell cloning is very possible and they will lead in this
landscape.

As a word of caution to you my dear readers - never make false claims about anything.  What pleasure will adoration and admiration will give if you yourself know that you don't deserve it?  Superficial fame gives
superficial satisfaction.  And if you think a secret kept to yourself will remain a secret forever, you better think again.  Because aside  from you and your conscience, there is still one Supreme Being who knows everything - GOD.

Am logging off.  Stay cool and God Bless us all!