Friday, December 16, 2005
Fraud Confirmed by Another Hwang Colleague and Seoul National University
Another co-author of the now discredited study in Science, Roh Sung-il and the Seoul National University have proclaimed that Dr Hwang's study was faked. It now appears that the pictures of the stem cells and the DNA fingerprints that the entire paper was based on were completely fabricated.
This calls for an overhaul of the entire peer review system. But as many commenters have pointed out, that also has to include strict enforcable ethical guidelines that respect human life. Any attempt at "bio-ethics", without acknowledging the fundemental biological truth of "personhood" of human life from it's inception renders all other ethical considerations meaningless.
I'm not a big fan of legislating morality, but maybe the scientific community needs its own version of Sarbanes-Oxley so that anyone who vets or puts their name on a study is responsible for its veracity and liable for any fraud or damages.
This calls for an overhaul of the entire peer review system. But as many commenters have pointed out, that also has to include strict enforcable ethical guidelines that respect human life. Any attempt at "bio-ethics", without acknowledging the fundemental biological truth of "personhood" of human life from it's inception renders all other ethical considerations meaningless.
I'm not a big fan of legislating morality, but maybe the scientific community needs its own version of Sarbanes-Oxley so that anyone who vets or puts their name on a study is responsible for its veracity and liable for any fraud or damages.
papijoe 9:09 AM
|