Another Cloning "Breakthrough": The World's First Phony Stem Cells
Wesley Smith is the first to make the argument that I had expected to hear 24 hours a day after the Hwang Woo-suk scandal started: that it is nuclear transfer research itself, not scientific misconduct, that is at the core of the bioethics issues in the South Korea fraud. Written for the Weekly Standard, his piece asks a variety of interesting questions about not only how the scandal happened but about what it says about bioethics' "spin." Whether you agree or disagree with Smith about the matter, his piece is as coherent as this argument will withstand, and it needs to be heard and debated.contribute a comment
Comments have been closed for this post.
comments
Thanks for linking to Smith's piece. It's not, however, necessary to be opposed to all research involving embryos or even to all cloning research to be deeply concerned about the overly enthusiastic boosterism that has accompanied ESC advocacy at least since Michael West started touting "cures" for mortality. I for one was amazed by the Korean "breakthrough" that is now exposed as a fraud, but did not dare to say, or even think, I didn't believe it; I didn't have the courage of my own convictions. We all have some serious re-thinking to do. Let's take the hype out of basic science.
- by Pete Shanks on Dec 30, 2005 at 1:49 AM | link