Hwang a Fraud! Paper Withdrawn!

The Science paper claiming that Woo-Suk Hwang created cloned embryonic stem cells has been withdrawn! It was all faked. And yet, it was published in Science, one of the most prestigious science journals in the world.

This will have huge repercussions. What does it tell us about the peer review process? Did the reviewers of Hwang’s work so WANT to believe and that they couldn’t see the fraud? Will the media finally report on how so much of the advocacy on behalf of therapeutic cloning is hype and spin? Will the adult/umbilical cord blood stem cell successes finally receive the coverage they deserve? Will the Science Establishment come to recognize how science is being corrupted by the intense desire of cloning advocates to win the political debate and defeat George Bush’s funding policies?

This is a scandal of historic proportions. The human cloning cause has been set back years, and indeed, it is possible—and to be hoped—mortally wounded.