CGS-authored
ONGOING investigations into cloning researcher Hwang Woo Suk's apparently fraudulent results are seeing American researchers and bioethicist apologists disavowing any connection between Korea's scandal and the integrity of embryonic stem cell research more generally.
Hwang, recently honored as a hero in the field, is an aberration, we are told. The scientific community bears no taint.
Distancing Hwang's project from the larger cloning effort, Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology scolds in a recent Washington Post article that "while (Hwang) played his games," cures have been held up.
Biotech industry-favored bioethicist Laurie Zoloth soothes in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times that "We can hope that with good codes ... good oversight ... good law and a good scientific process ... the story (scientists tell us) is true."
Should taxpayers trust the story? Is Hwang's debacle merely failed personal integrity? Sloppy lab methods, perhaps? Or is it an extreme case of succumbing to the pressures of national pride, international competition and the lure of vast commercial reward?
The fact is, science no longer operates in the culture of service...
Hwang, recently honored as a hero in the field, is an aberration, we are told. The scientific community bears no taint.
Distancing Hwang's project from the larger cloning effort, Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology scolds in a recent Washington Post article that "while (Hwang) played his games," cures have been held up.
Biotech industry-favored bioethicist Laurie Zoloth soothes in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times that "We can hope that with good codes ... good oversight ... good law and a good scientific process ... the story (scientists tell us) is true."
Should taxpayers trust the story? Is Hwang's debacle merely failed personal integrity? Sloppy lab methods, perhaps? Or is it an extreme case of succumbing to the pressures of national pride, international competition and the lure of vast commercial reward?
The fact is, science no longer operates in the culture of service...