Campaign for Hwang intensifies

Campaigns are intensifying in Korea to save scientist Hwang Woo-suk from a raging ethics scandal that has clouded his breakthrough achievements in the stem cell research.

A surging number of women are volunteering to donate their eggs for his research and the government and political parties promise their continued support for his work.

Patients suffering from incurable diseases and their families are reacting angrily to a television network that reported of his team`s unethical procurement of human eggs.

Hwang admitted at a news conference last Thursday that he used ova from paid donors and two members of his research team. He apologized and resigned as the head of World Stem Cell Hub, launched last month in Seoul for international cooperation on treatments for untreatable diseases.

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An international code of ethics says that a scientist should be cautious before obtaining ova from a person "in a dependent relationship with" him or her because of possible coercion involved.

As of yesterday morning, more than 700 women have said that they wanted to contribute their ova since the launch of a private foundation last Tuesday to facilitate legal and ethical donations of human eggs for research purposes.

The number of would-be donors jumped by 500 after Hwang`s news conference, the group said.

On Sunday night, more than 100 ardent advocates of Hwang staged a candlelit vigil in front of the MBC-TV`s building in Seoul, threatening to boycott products of advertisers of the broadcaster.

They called for an apology and disciplinary measures against the producers of its program "PD Notebook" which aired a documentary last Tuesday on suspicions surrounding the origin of ova that Hwang used to grow stem cells.

Eleven out of 12 advertisements for the program have been already canceled after supporters of Hwang launched a campaign against those companies.

Some Koreans criticized the campaign against the TV report for "distorted patriotism."

"In a large sense, the program did a good job and did what it should have done. Our people seem to show a very narrow nationalistic attitude," said Rhee Shang-hi, a former minister of science and technology.

President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday warned of "one-sidedness" and a potential threat to the freedom of press in the attacks against the program.

"Phone calls and messages of protest are understandable ... But the cancellation of advertisements seems to being going too far," Roh said in a statement announced on Saturday.

Despite Hwang`s acknowledgement of his ethical lapse, the government and people stepped up their support for the scientist, saying the ethical controversy should not dampen his work aimed at curing intractable diseases.

The government and the ruling Uri Party plan to set up a commission to lay out comprehensive plans to support biotechnology research and to revise the life-ethics law to allow transparent ova donation.

The government said it will not change its plan to provide Hwang`s team with a support fund of 3 billion won ($3 million) a year until 2009. His team received 27.5 billion won in assistance this year.





On Saturday, Seoul National University, which runs the World Stem Cell Hub, said it would not accept Hwang`s resignation and will ask him to continue to lead it once he comes back.

Hwang has taken a break outside of Seoul since the news conference and it is not known when he will return to his lab, members of his team said. His colleagues have continued with their work but are having difficulties without Hwang`s leadership, they said.

Overseas scientists` support for Hwang also seems to remain strong despite a storm of criticism of Hwang by foreign media.

About six research institutes overseas also said that they want to jointly work with Hwang`s team, a member of Hwang`s team said.

U.S. stem cell scientist Gerald Schatten said in a statement on Saturday, "While ethical issues about oocyte donation should be debated and the process regulated, the scientific conclusions of Dr. Hwang`s research remain intact."

The ethical dispute erupted after Schatten severed his collaboration with Hwang earlier this month, citing suspicions about possible unethical methods in his research.

Hwang stunned the world in April 2004 by cloning human embryos for the first time to obtain stem cells. He made further news this year by developing stem cells tailored to the needs of individual patients and for cloning a dog for the first time.

(hjjin@heraldm.com)



By Jin Hyun-joo