The row over the apparently fabricated scientific research of the human cloning specialist, Dr Hwang Woo-suk (item 1), should also alert us to the full enormity of biotech hype.

Have a look at the stamp that S. Korea had designed to celebrate Dr Hwang's work and the "procedure of establishing stem cells and hope." The stamp contains a silhouette of a man in a wheelchair who in a series of subsequent silhouettes is seen starting to get out of his wheelchair, taking his first step, jumping and finally embracing a woman.

It's also interesting that the problems with Hwang's research were not originally exposed by the scientific community but by investigative journalists who were told it was unpatriotic to challenge someone who had given the country a lead in such a promising new area.

See the stamp here: http://www.pennfamily.org/KSS-USA/linns-world-of-new-issues-02282005.htm

As Martin Frid comments in his ever interesting blog: "Billions of tax payer Won have been wasted, that could have gone to wheelchair ramps, elevators, and other aids for people who also suffer discrimination because of their disabilities."
http://martinjapan.blogspot.com

For an excellent primer on human genetic engineering, see Peter Shanks book, "Human Genetic Engineering: a guide for activists, skeptics and the very perplexed" (Nation Books)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560256958/102-0731180-4608954?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance
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New blow to S Korea clone work [excerpts only]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4566154.stm

South Korea's disgraced human cloning scientist did not produce any stem cells tailored to individual patients as claimed, a panel has concluded.

A Seoul National University panel said it believed that Hwang Woo-suk never had the data he said he had.

Dr Hwang quit last week after the panel said some research was fabricated.

Correspondents say the finding is important as individually-tailored stem cells were seen as a key to treating diseases like diabetes and Alzheimers.

SCANDAL TIMELINE
Feb 2004 Hwang Woo-suk's team declare they have created 30 cloned human embryos
May 2005 Team says it has made stem cell lines from skin cells of 11 people
Nov 2005 Hwang apologises for using eggs from his own researchers
Dec 15 A colleague claims stem cell research was faked
Dec 23 Academic panel finds results were 'intentionally fabricated'
Dec 29 Panel finds no data to back study
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http://www.pennfamily.org/KSS-USA/linns-world-of-new-issues-02282005.htm

South Korea issued a 220-won stamp Feb. 12 to commemorate the first anniversary of the successful establishment of human cloned embryonic stem cells by Woo Suk Hwang and his team of South Korean scientists.

The team announced the results Feb. 12, 2004, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle. It published them the same day in Science Express, the online version of the journal Science.

Jung Hwa Roh designed the South Korean stamp. Koreapost describes the design as showing the "procedure of establishing stem cells and hope."

The design is divided into two parts, with the left representing the procedure used to obtain and clone the human embryos.

The new-issue announcement from Koreapost says: "Stem cells grow into all the different types of cells comprising the human body and are produced from the inner cells of blastocysts, a hollow microscopic ball of cells. "For obtaining cloned embryonic stem cells, the nucleas is extracted from a matured human egg (called enucleation); the somatic cells of the subject (patient) that is to be cloned is transferred to enucleated oocytes; and through electric fusion and an activation process, embryo development is induced as normal fertilization of sperm and egg."

A silhouette of a man in a wheelchair is pictured in the lower right of this part of the design. Four additional silhouettes of the man are featured on the right part of the design, symbolizing the hope offered by stem-cell research for people suffering with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart and spinal-cord diseases, diabetes and other incurable diseases. Starting from left to right, the silhouettes show the man starting to get out of his wheelchair, taking his first step, jumping and hugging his wife.

In an interview with Anthony Faiola published in the Feb. 29, 2004, issue of The Washington Post, Hwang said: "Cloning should be used to improve the human condition. Okay, so I cloned a human embryo. Do you blame me? Who can blame me? I am not out to clone a human. I am trying to save human lives . . ." He also said, "Of course, we’ve thought about the ethical questions, and now I’m willing to hear what my government and others around the world have to say. But to me, there is really only one question: How can we stare at the possibility of saving millions of people, improving the lifestyles of millions more and choose not to act."

The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. printed the commemorative by gravure using five inks, including an optically variable ink that appears to change colors depending on the angle in which the stamp is viewed. The Stem Cells stamp was printed in panes of 20 and in a quantity of 1.6 million stamps.

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