Hold scientists accountable

So now it's confirmed that South Korean stem cell king Hwang Woo Suk had been lying all along - not just about the illicit manner in which the women's eggs used in his experiments were obtained, but about his major claim to have successfully created clonal human embryos in the first place. He lied to the news media, the public, his government and patients hoping for cures.

I heard Mr. Hwang speak just over a year ago at a forum at the United Nations. He was lauded by the scientists present as the Galileo of stem cell research. When a reporter asked about rumors that the eggs used in his experiments had been obtained under questionable circumstances, he denied it. None of the other scientists present voiced the least concern.

If we are to learn the most important lessons from this sorry episode, we need to be aware of the broader context.

Mr. Hwang is not the first scientist to have lied or engaged in ethically questionable behavior concerning their experiments with human genes, stem cells or embryos. The new...