Hwang Woo-suk and the Sooam cloning business
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
A South Korean cloning scientist later worked in the United Arab Emirates, where he said he had cloned more than 150 camels. Most of the wider record on his earlier research and company is reported but not verified.
Hwang's own statement to the Seoul Shinmun, July 2023; not independently verified.
Status As of July 2023 (latest verified item): Hwang was reported to be working at the Abu Dhabi Biotechnology Institute; no later record is held.
- Gulf camel owners and the centres selling clones, at prices of 200,000–400,000 dirhams per clone — Cloned animals, including beauty-pageant camels
What happened
In July 2023 the Seoul Shinmun reported that Hwang Woo-suk was working in the United Arab Emirates, at the Abu Dhabi Biotechnology Institute. The institute had been set up in October 2022 with the backing of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, the country's Deputy Prime Minister.
Hwang told the newspaper that he had cloned more than 150 camels in the UAE and that the total number of animals he had cloned exceeded 1,600.
Camel cloning in the Gulf is a paid service. The Reproductive Biotechnology Centre in Dubai announced its first cloned camel, Injaz, in April 2009. In 2021 the centre's scientific director said there had been 20 pregnancies the previous year and 28 that year, and that the centre produced more than 10 to 20 calves a year. He said Gulf clients paid 200,000 to 400,000 dirhams per clone, given in the report as about $54,500 to $109,000, and that the most popular order was for beauty-pageant camels.
The sources held for this case also describe Hwang's earlier research, a later cloning company, and several large announced projects. These accounts come, encyclopedia entries or memory and have not been verified against the original pages; they are listed under "What is not established" and are not stated here as fact.
- 2009Dubai's Reproductive Biotechnology Centre announces Injaz, its first cloned camel (April)
- 2021The Dubai centre's scientific director reports 28 camel pregnancies that year and prices of 200,000–400,000 dirhams per clone
- 2022Abu Dhabi Biotechnology Institute set up with the backing of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed (October)
- 2023Seoul Shinmun reports Hwang working at the institute; he says he has cloned more than 150 camels and over 1,600 animals in total (July)
How it looked
Shown
- More than 150 camels cloned in the UAE; more than 1,600 animals cloned in totalHwang Woo-suk, to the Seoul Shinmun · Seoul Shinmun
Recorded
- The Seoul Shinmun reported the Abu Dhabi Biotechnology Institute was set up in October 2022 with the backing of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.
- The Dubai centre's scientific director said in 2021 that Gulf clients paid 200,000 to 400,000 dirhams per clone and that beauty-pageant camels were the most popular order.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- Hwang Woo-suk (July 2023): Said he had cloned more than 150 camels in the UAE and more than 1,600 animals in total. · Seoul Shinmun
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Hwang's 2004 and 2005 papers in Science on stem cells from cloned human embryos were fabricated; that 2,221 eggs from 119 women were used, at least 66 women were paid and donors were not adequately informed of side effects (findings attributed to Korea's National Bioethics Committee); and that Hwang was convicted in 2009 of embezzling research funds. The source for these points is an encyclopedia entry.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Sooam, founded by Hwang after the scandal, charged $100,000 per dog and said it had cloned more than 600 dogs (2015).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Sooam and the Chinese firm Boyalife announced in November 2015 a cloning factory in Tianjin, planned at 100,000 cattle embryos a year rising to one million, with an investment given as 200 million yuan (another source: $500 million). The search that found this located no production reports after 2016, and a Swiss newspaper called the project over-marketed.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Sooam signed a mammoth-cloning agreement with North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk in March 2012 with a stated aim of a living mammoth within six years. No such animal has been reported.
- None on record The sources do not state how many of the animals Hwang says he cloned were camels sold to clients, or what the Abu Dhabi institute charges.
- Self-reported only Hwang's statement of 1,600 animals is his own; no independent count is held.
Did the harm stop?
Not assessed in the sources held for this case.
Who paid?
Not established. The only prices recorded are those paid by Gulf clients for camel clones at the Dubai centre.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Seoul Shinmun report on Hwang Woo-suk in the UAESeoul Shinmun · 2023-07-10
Connected cases
- Dubai camel cloning centre reported 28 pregnancies in 2021 United Arab Emirates · 2009–2023
- Abu Dhabi Biotechnology Institute (Research institution) — here: Institute where Hwang was reported to work; there: employed the South Korean scientist whose camel cloning work is reported