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Seoul (dpa) - Disgraced South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo Suk pressured a woman collague to supply egg cells for his stem cell research, a Seoul MBC television report said late Tuesday.
It quoted the woman as saying she felt "forced" to donate egg cells, having been told that if she did not do so her name would be removed from a research document published in 2004.
The woman told the broadcaster that she first had to receive hormone treatment, then was subjected to an operation under general anaesthetic.
Hwang, 53, in a landmark study last year claimed to have produced cloned stem cells tailored to individual patients. He was discredited last year by an academic panel.
The nine-member panel from Seoul National University probing irregularities found Hwang had intentionally fabricated research in his study published by U.S. journal Science in May.
The scientists of the research claimed their advances in cloning patient-tailored stem cells could be a breakthrough in the treatment for incurable diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's.
The MBC television report Tuesday also claimed that Hwang had used nearly four times the number of egg cells for his research in 2004 and 2005 than the 427 he was originally reported to have used.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
