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Why some scientists cheat
As the year 2005 drew to a close, the scientific world was stunned by the announcement that the renowned South Korean scientist Dr Hwang Woo Suk, who had become an international star for his dazzling scientific achievements, was fired from his job at the Seoul National University for falsifying the results of his research.
He was accused of publishing fraudulent findings in one of the world’s most prestigious scientific journals, Science, claiming that he had succeed in cloning human embryonic stem cells for the first time.
Before the news broke, Dr Hwang had presented his research findings at various international scientific meetings within the past two years in the presence of world’s most luminous minds. He was credited with achieving a major advancement in science which raised hopes that at long last a cure for a number of disabling human diseases — such as Alzheimer’s, stroke and diabetes — could be found. Why did Dr Hwang’s purported findings represent such a remarkable achievement in biomedical science?
Stem cells, the focus of his research, are derived from early embryos, formed naturally after fertilization of the egg by sperm, prior to implantation in the uterus. These cells are unique because, as opposed to other ones, they can divide indefinitely, and, much like a potter’s clay, can be moulded into any cell type of the body — kidney, heart or bone. Normally, mature cells are already committed, so that the kidney cells can only give rise to kidney cells, liver cells generate only liver cells.
This distinctive and remarkable ability of the embryonic stem cells makes them highly valuable tools in the fight against diseases caused by the failure of vital human organs. Scientists have been dreaming that embryonic stem cell could one day be used to generate new replacement organs to treat patients with diseased organs, such as failing hearts, pancreas that no longer produce insulin, and dead brain cells causing neurological dysfunction.
The crucial question is how can we ensure a steady and reliable supply of stem cells? These days, the cells are extracted from surplus embryos that are generated by in vitro fertilization procedures in fertility clinics designed to help couples who cannot conceive a child naturally. In such cases, the mother’s eggs are fertilized by father’s sperm in the laboratory and subsequently one of the resulting embryos is implanted in the mother’s uterus.
In the developing countries scientific achievements get muddled up with patriotism and nationalism. And scientists are prone to the same failings as other human beings
Often doctors produce excess embryos in case they need more than one, if the first implant is not successful. All surplus embryos are later discarded or in some cases donated by the couples to scientists for stem cell research. Many, many people, including President Bush, are vehemently opposed on religious grounds to the use of human employs for research, and government funding in American is banned for such work.
Clearly, fertility clinics represent an unreliable source of stem cells. Many of the problems would be overcome, however, if embryonic stem cells could be produced in the laboratory by modern cloning procedures. By these means, the scientists could harvest an unlimited supply of these cells for their experimentation. That would still leave another obstacle that would limit the use of the stem cells — immunological incompatibility.
When the heart, liver or kidney fails to function, the organ can only be replaced by costly and cumbersome transplantation procedures, using donated organs. Such organs when available and transplanted surgically are often rejected by the body which views them as foreign tissues.
Dr Hwang became a national hero in South Korea and an international celebrity in biomedical science, because his research seemed to have solved both the problems plaguing large-scale therapeutic use of stem cells. He claimed that his laboratory could readily clone human stem cells, paving the way for ensuring a steady supply of the same, and even more crucially, that the problem of tissue rejection had been resolved.
He claimed that he had removed the genetic material, DNA, of the human female egg, replacing it with the DNA taken from the cell of another person. The stem cells extracted from the resulting embryo could then be grown in the laboratory into organs and transplanted into the patient who provided the cell.
He argued that since the cells originally came from the patient’s own body, they would not be perceived as foreign by it and there would be no rejection. The research as presented was simple, elegant and beautiful, but alas, it was fraudulent. While Dr Hwang claimed that he had successfully cloned his stem cells, in reality they had been obtained by the infusion of an egg and a sperm, the same time-honoured technique for obtaining stem cells employed previously by many.
The revelation of a deception at such magnitude was unprecedented and generated a shock wave in the academic world. Also, the claim that he had generated eleven cell lines, a remarkable achievement, was false. There were only two.
It is not the first time that a scientist has published fraudulent data, nor is scientific misconduct the exclusive domain of third world scientists. The now discredited work published by Dr Hwang bore the name of a well-recognized American scientist, Dr Jerald Schatten, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. It turned out that Dr Schatten did not have much knowledge of what was going on in the South Korean laboratories, but he was happy to lend his name to the landmark publications as long as it brought him fame and prestige.
He promptly dissociated himself from the South Korean scientist, however, when it became clear that the research was based on deceptive data and the fraud began to unravel. He was strongly censured by the University of Pittsburgh and probably will never be able to salvage his reputation as an outstanding scientist.
Although instances of misconduct among scientists are still rare, during the past two decades a number of such cases have been exposed in the United States. The unanswered question is: why highly intelligent and gifted scientists indulge in misconduct?
In the mediaeval times, science was pursued by individuals largely as one of a number of other scholarly pursuits and for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the innate inquisitiveness of the scientist. The Muslim scientist Mohammad Zakariya Al-Razi (864-930 AD) was a physician, alchemist and philosopher all at the same time. The great Italian scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 AD) was an engineer, physiologist, and above all a painter.
But in the western countries today, science has morphed into a highly specialized, competitive, billion-dollar enterprise. The race to be the first in research is fierce and the temptation for falsifying results to derive advantage over other scientists is powerful.
In many universities, the professors are under intense pressure to generate funds from outside sources to pay for their salaries and research expenses. This is especially true of young professors who are often struggling to establish themselves and secure jobs in the academia.
Also, in the developing countries such as South Korea, scientific achievements get muddled up with patriotism and nationalism, a question of prestige and honour for the country. And scientists, their high position in the intellectual hierarchy notwithstanding, are prone to the same failings as other human beings.
The writer amirs@csr.nih.gov works as an administrator for the National Institutes of Health, Maryland, United States
Whistle-blowers land in trouble
Like many scandals, this one started with an anonymous tip and a cloak-and-dagger meeting in the dead of night. Deep Throat was a South Korean doctor in his early 30s known as “Mr K”.
Last summer, he sent an e-mail to an investigative television programme complaining that his former boss had fabricated groundbreaking results of human embryonic cloning.
After some negotiations, he arranged to meet with the show’s producer after working hours at the doctor’s hospital. They found an empty office, locked the door behind them, and lowered their voices.
The outcome was anything but a whisper. The ensuing scandal has resounded around the world and may go down as one of the greatest science hoaxes of all time. Mr K’s former boss, acclaimed scientist Hwang Woo Suk, is in disgrace and has been fired by Seoul National University. South Korea’s presidential adviser on science has resigned, and a massive criminal investigation is underway.
But life has not been so grand for those who broke the story, either. Instead of plaudits for his courage, Mr K had to resign from the hospital. He is unemployed.
South Korea’s MBC Television, which broke the story on the investigative programme PD Notebook, was beset by protests from viewers and advertisers outraged by the affront to a national hero. The broadcaster’s stock price crashed, and the programme was taken off the air for two weeks.
It was nasty stuff. Enraged Hwang supporters distributed a photograph on the internet of the programme’s producer, Han Hak Soo, his wife and their 4-year-old child. “Let’s kill those three!” read one message accompanying the photograph.
Concerned, MBC’s management tried to send him to Europe for a three-month training programme to place him out of harm’s way. Then, when Han was preparing to leave, he was banned from leaving the country because of a lawsuit filed against him.
“It was as though we had brought down a sacred cow in South Korea, and people were really angry,” said Choi Seung Ho, an MBC executive producer.
The behind-the-scenes story of how the cloning fraud came to light tells a lot about South Korea today. On the positive side, Korean scientists, doctors and journalists cared enough about the truth to be willing to stand up to the establishment.
But the uproar over Hwang also revealed an ugly streak of nationalism. As is often the case in South Korea, the most wired nation in the world, it manifested itself most clearly on the internet, where die-hard Hwang loyalists pursued whistle-blowers and the investigative journalists with cult-like fanaticism.
Bloggers and online newspapers have accused them of trying to extort money from Hwang. The 24-hour news channel YTN, owned by the semi-official Yonhap News Agency, went to the extent of launching a campaign against Hwang’s detractors. — Barbara Demick/The Los Angeles Times
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