The former “Supreme Scientist” of Korea, Hwang Woo Suk, has fled to Thailand. Why?
The South Korean government banned Hwang from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled to be bogus last year…
“Dr. Hwang and his team moved into Thailand to continue with their study free from ethical controversy over their research here,” said Park Se-Pill, also a cloning scientist, told AFP…
Hwang’s former lawyer, Lee Geon-Haeng, confirmed Hwang and his team had been in Thailand for the past two months.
Aside from the cloning of pets, Hwang’s team has also been working on “trans-species” cloning in which, for example, human DNA are inserted into eggs of a cow to produce hybrid embryos.
How long until Hwang unveils the monkey with four asses?
23 Comments
Nice touch there at the end Dram Man. As for doctor Hwang, I say why not let him try in Thailand? I had as much fun as anyone watching him being embarrassed, but maybe I recall reading somewhere (probably here) that he DID create something of significance during that entire debacle. Perhaps he’s learned something from his mistake and he’ll use this opportunity to do something significant.
Frankenhwang.
Ethics? Schmethics! I see an excellent real-life 007 plot coming out of this in a few years, as Hwang tries to take over the world with his clone army from his tropical paradise lair. “You made a fool out of me and now I’m getting my revenge! Bua ha ha ha ha!”
@ Wedge
Wouldn’t it be just a little awesome if he did? Just a little?
Alex> OK Hwang’s midget clone army from his tropical lair. That would be a little awesome.
Seriously, this is some spooky shit. Really, it is.
Actually, what with a harder-edged, more realistic Bond nowadays, we might have to unfreeze Austin Powers to stop the Hwang Army to get the most entertainment value.
I’m not a fan of Hwang, but seriously, what’s the worst he can do? Okay he might create as Dram_man stated, a monkey with four asses, but it’s not like he will create some epidemic that will wipe out all living matter on this planet.
Why you confidently assume that someone as reckless, ethically feckless, dishonest and apparently driven by wounded pride and resentment as Hwang et al might not inadvertently (if not deliberately) accomplish the creation of some kind of biological scourge, if afforded access to adequate resources, mystifies me.
@#9.
Because I don’t think he’s smart enough to create something like that.
If he was smart enough and as you mentioned reckless, he would have done that during the time he had access to plentiful SK government resources.
Species IV, now with Kimch’i breath!
@#9.
Or are you assuming that Hwang is a brilliant scientist?
This news reminded me of the “Mutant Rat Boy” prank from “Scare Tactics”:
Video of Mutant Rat Boy
@#7 Did someone call! Here I am Unfrozen.
It’s a bastard being stiff for 20 years (Viagro overdose). I hear the evil Dr Hwang is cloning a new breed of Korean Men with even more chest hair than I, and bigger shlongs.
I’ll get you Dr Hwang, I’ll get you.
@13:
No, I’m not, but based on the skill set and the actual verified accomplishments of Hwang and his team, I think we have to conclude that they are at least more than even just competent and thus capable of at least fucking up big time and possibly even deliberately creating something that “they would know better than to do” if they still were subject to the informal and formal regulatory hurdles created by the community of scientists and govt authorities.
As for why they didn’t do something beyond the pale (scientifically-speaking) when still in good graces, I suggest that they were still subject to some internalized and external constraints stemming from the “scientific community” and ROKGOV. Now, however, they are free agents with “motive”
Maybe ROKGOV should consider surgically removing the thumbs and forefingers of Hwang and his team so that they can’t deploy their vaunted chopstick dexterity for evil. Or it may be a job for the World Police. :))
Hwang realized that his mistake was removing eggs from women. Leave the eggs where they thrive! In the womb!
He also realized that when he gets excited he can release some deoxy-nucleic acids(DNA)in the forms of swimming tadpoles, in a very size.
Empowered with this “new” knowledge he cannot wait to produce human beings. If he tries thousand times, he may produce exact copy of himself. After all, each offspring is very similar to him, though not exactly like him.
So, he wanted to try this technique on Korean women. But, Korean women are too expensive. He had to pay much money to get one egg mated.
Then, he heard about Thailand where women stand on street corner ready to engage in this “experiment”.
He and his team were on the plane the very next day. Since then, only thing heard from his group was the question, “Where can we get the anti-biotics?”
Best baduk post ever.
Right and may I remind you that those “constraints” didn’t exactly stop him and his team from pulling off a smoke and mirrors routine on the ROK government and the “scientific community.” Which means if they wanted to do something on the side they had ample opportunity to do so.
Dr. Hwang is highly capable in his field. He cloned a dog, which is more than any of the US, Europe and else wannabes could do TOGETHER.
Better tell the Thais to get ready for the Shin Jeong-ah Ivy League Art Gallery and Institute.
Right, that’s why I said “some”; now there are less, increasing the likelihood of more and greater transgressions.
#21.
Kind of depends on what you exactly mean by “transgression.” If it means more smoke and mirrors, yes there’s a very high possibility for more of that in the near future.
Even if they had less constraints, the combined brainpower of the so called team isn’t exactly top notch. You have to take into account that there’s no individual creativity here and everything is micromanaged by Hwang. And Hwang is a veteranian not a genetic scientist, and what little knoweldge he has gained regarding genetics is the result of his so called research, which IMO isn’t something to write home about. Not only that these guys probably don’t have much in the way of funding either.(They probably used up most of their funds to move to Thailand and there’s only so much that his supporters can do in terms of additonal funding) And let’s just assume for the sake of argument that al Qaeda wants to go for bio weapons. I mean there are Russian scientists who are a lot smarter, so why would al Qaeda go to some guy whose biggest accomplishment is pretending he created stem cells.
So, whether it is intentional or by accident whatever that comes out of Hwang’s Thai lab will be a rehash of what Hwang did in Seoul before and after his fall. To put it simply, it won’t be anything that will impress anyone.