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A massive wave of support for stem cell pioneer Prof. Hwang Woo-suk greeted his announcement on Thursday that he is resigning all his official posts and takes full responsibility for a scandal surrounding his team¡¯s procurement of human egg cells for research.
In online polls on several Internet portal sites, some 90 percent of users expressed support for Hwang, and more than 200 women say they would donate egg cells. Doctors said it was crucial that society helps Hwang¡¯s team focus on their ground-breaking research.
Kim Jae-jung, the president of the Korean Medical Association, said even though there were some ethical flaws in Hwang¡¯s research, as the geneticist admitted, people should understand that it was inevitable at the time. ¡°Citizens and the government alike need to help so the World Stem Cell Hub can run smoothly and give hope to patients suffering from incurable diseases,¡± Kim said.
In an online poll after Hwang¡¯s press conference on Thursday by portal site Naver, 90 percent of users opposed Hwang¡¯s resignation from the World Stem Cell Hub.
In another poll by Yahoo Korea, 86 percent of users said they thought the occyte procurement had not been unethical since it happened before the relevant laws came into force this year. Only 12 percent saw ethical problems.
An online community called ¡°I Love Hwang Woo-suk¡± (café.daum.net/ilovehws) saw membership mushroom; some 3,000 people newly registered since Wednesday, bringing the total to 15,000.
The number of women who offered to donate eggs, which had stood at 130 until Wednesday, shot up to 200 in a day. A member of the online support group said five minutes before the press conference, Hwang called the community ¡°and held our hands tightly, and said quietly he was truly grateful to everyone.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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