Wesley J. Smith

I have never been that impressed with the thinking of Peter Singer, although he is probably the most famous philosopher/bioethicist in the world. This article by Singer in the Australian about the Hwang scandal is a case in point. For example, Singer trots out the old nonsense that cloning makes the . . . . Continue Reading »

The New York Times put Hwang on its front page today. That is good. The paper predictably covered the story following the general line taken by cloning advocates. The Washingto Post has another story as well, again by Rick Weiss. It ran on the San Francisco Chronicle’s front page.These . . . . Continue Reading »

This from the London Times today, reporting on the Hwang fraud:“The paper reporting the birth of Snuppy did not include DNA tests that were needed to prove the dog was a true clone.” And yet, it passed peer-review muster, as did the fraudulent paper claiming 11 cloned stem cell lines, as . . . . Continue Reading »

As I suspected, much of the same media that carried banner stories about Hwang’s purported cloning success, are barely reporting his downfall. Notable exception, the Washington Post, which ran a front page story. But I just went through my New York Times, and couldn’t find the story. On . . . . Continue Reading »

Why does it seem to always take celebrities to get media’s attention? The Washington Post has reported an apparent adult stem cell success in treating Hawaiian singer Don Ho. Ho reportedly had stem cells taken from his own blood injected into his badly ailing heart, in a procedure not yet . . . . Continue Reading »

Michael Cook is the editor of Bio Edge and he has published a powerful opinion article in the Australian about a science panel that recommends not only overturning Australia’s current ban on all human cloning, but permitting a virtually anything goes license for biotech. Here is the key . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s official: Hwang is a fraud. His own university investigators determined that he deliberately misled the world about his supposed cloning breakthroughs. Nine out of the eleven stem cell lines were faked and the other two have yet to be confirmed. The LA Times is on the story.Look now for . . . . Continue Reading »

There is so much that could be written about this. But, I will just point out that the same dehumanizing, commodifying activity could be unleashed if there is ever widespread human cloning. The need for millions of eggs could result in a the exploitation of women for their eggs, or the selling of . . . . Continue Reading »

South Korean scientists are furious with the “scam” they believe was perpetrated by Woo-Suk Hwang, to the point that they want him “punished.” I am not sure what that might mean, but if he obtained government or private funding based on fraudulent assertions, that could be a . . . . Continue Reading »

Nature has an interesting article about the Hwang debacle. A couple of quotes stuck out for me.“In the past few days, doubts have also been raised about the authenticity of [Hwang’s] 2004 paper... But whether it is valid or not, the loss of confidence in the 2005 study leaves scientists . . . . Continue Reading »