By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter



Hwang Woo-suk

Over two thirds of those who responded to The Korea Times’ latest online poll said they would continue supporting stem cell pioneer Hwang Woo-suk, irrespective of the recent ethical controversies involving his research.
In reply to the question, ``If Hwang acquired eggs from his junior researchers, would you still continue supporting him,’’ 68.5 percent or 646 of the 946 people who responded as of Wednesday said yes. About 32 percent answered negatively.

About 65 percent or 615 said they believe one or more of Hwang’s staff donated eggs. The online survey was placed on the Times’ Web site Tuesday.

By a two-to-one margin, readers also said in-house egg recruitment is not ethically problematic enough to undermine Hwang’s future research, with 64.8 percent saying is a problem.

The Hwang controversy was fueled by a program by a MBC television program claiming that it had secured medical records from Mizmedi Women’s Hospital proving one of Hwang’s subordinates contributed eggs through an operation at the Seoul-based fertility clinic.

Mizmedi head Roh Sung-il, who was in charge of procuring eggs for Hwang’s therapeutic cloning study, threatened to take legal action against MBC, claiming the records were not true.

Regarding the move by Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh to sever his partnership with Hwang, 54.4 percent said that it was not proper. Schatten quit the Seoul cloning team early this month, saying the Hwang team misled him about way it collected human eggs.

The two scientists struck up a partnership in early 2004, when Hwang stunned the world by revealing the feats of cloning human embryos and growing a stem cell line from them for the first time in history.

Then the two embryologists together exploited uncharted territory by establishing 11 patient-specific stem cell batches in this May, the breakthrough that scientists say will open door to cell therapy, and by creating the world’s first dog clones.

Meanwhile, Hwang is expected to address a press conference on Thursday at Seoul National University on the egg recruitment scandal in order to disclose the results of the internal investigation into the case.

Hwang has promised that he would get to the bottom of the case and would reveal the results as soon as he can to dispel people’s doubts.

Hwang is likely to admit there were egg donors at his lab Thursday as he and his closest colleagues hinted through interviews with the media. Hwang has reportedly said there were occasions a couple of years ago when female researchers tried to contribute their eggs.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr