While insisting that his work was truthful, a prominent South Korean stem cell scientist requested on Friday that a scientific paper on stem cells that were created through human cloning be withdrawn.

Seoul National University professor Hwang Woo-suk insisted that new tests will confirm his work is authentic, and the results should be ready in about 10 days.

The paper in question was published by the journal Science in May 2005. It purported to show how individual stem cell colonies were created through cloning for 11 patients.

Former collaborator Roh Sung-il accused Hwang of pressuring a lab worker to forge evidence about the creation of those colonies.

"Nine stem cells appear to be fake, and two others are not confirmed yet," Roh said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The researcher who was reportedly ordered to fake the results defended Hwang, though. Kim Sun-jong said he personally saw eight stem cell lines, as well as another three that were being nurtured.

Hwang promised Science editors that he would consent with the paper's 24 other authors, work on the exact language of the retraction and include an explanation of what went wrong.

He said he asked for the withdrawal because of problems with the accompanying photos and promised that although the paper was flawed, the findings behind it were sound. "A total of six researchers confirmed all the processes, and we do not have any doubts about it. Illustrious global scientists who visited our lab also eye-witnessed them," Hwang said.

Last week, the journal's editors said those mistakes did not affect the findings, but Korean journalists have brought up more serious concerns about fabrication of data.

They are also questioning Hwang's work regarding Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog. A geneticist now said he has proof of scientific errors in Hwang's paper on the cloning of the dog and proposes comparing the original dog with the clone to confirm Hwang's claim.

© 2006 mydna.com