Sperm cloning paper retracted

Published on Friday 31 July 2009 22:18

A SCIENTIFIC journal has retracted a controversial paper that included claims to have created the first human sperm from embryonic stem cells.

Stem Cells and Development's editor was quoted by the science publication Nature as saying that the study by scientists at Newcastle University was retracted because two paragraphs in its introduction had been plagiarised.

Newcastle University blamed the plagiarism on a research associate who had now left.

They stressed that the science behind the research, and its conclusions, were not in question.

Experts said the plagiarism charge did not necessarily undermine the rest of the paper, though they acknowledged concerns might now be raised about the study's credibility.

The Newcastle scientists reported that they had produced the sperm in a laboratory and that it could one day help infertile men father children.

But critics said the sperm did not have the specific shape, movement or function of real sperm.

Experts said it was right to retract the paper. Allan Pacey, secretary for the British Fertility Society, said: "This is clearly scientific misconduct.

"I can understand why people might think, if they were sloppy here, maybe they were sloppy elsewhere."

The field of stem cell research has battled controversy before, when disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk claimed falsely to have derived stem cells from a cloned human embryo in 2004.

In a statement, Newcastle University said: "No questions have been raised about the science conducted or the conclusions of the research."

It added that the paper will now be submitted to another academic journal and that Newcastle University would be further examining the supervision of research associates.