Support for Korea¡¯s troubled cloning pioneer Prof. Hwang Woo-suk over an in-depth report on ethical lapses in his research projects by the broadcaster MBC continued unabated on Saturday. Police estimate that some 100 members of an online support group and others held a two-hour candlelight vigil in front of the terrestrial channel¡¯s office in Yeouido, Seoul in the evening. They said MBC hurt the national interest with ¡°distorted¡± reporting on occyte procurement by Hwang¡¯s team in its "PD Diary" on Nov. 22. and called on the broadcaster to apologize by Monday and punish the producers.
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Supporters of Prof. Hwang Woo-suk held a candlelight protest against an MBC program that dug the dirt on the cloning pioneer, in front of the of broadcaster¡¯s office in Yeouido on Saturday afternoon.
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Participants in the candlelight rally included pop singer Kang Won-lae, 36, who is paraplegic since an accident in 2000, and his wife Kim Song, 33, a choreographer. Kim earlier had ova extracted for artificial insemination and also to donate them for research. But the egg donation failed when medical problems surfaced during the process. ¡°I had eggs extracted three times to have a test-tube baby, and the process was exactly the same as the egg donations for research purposes. The hospital informed me of potential side effects, and I had adequate information," she said.
Kang said, "Many patients suffering from hard-to-cure diseases are pinning their hopes on stem-cell research. The ethical issue is inevitable one in this process. But criticizing the research process is tantamount to telling those who still have hopes to give up their lives."
Growing numbers of people are volunteering to donate eggs for Hwang¡¯s research since he admitted there were flaws in the way eggs were obtained because of a shortage in donors. An organization devoted to ova donation for scientific research said Sunday some 900 people volunteered through the support website and phone calls. The figure rose steeply to 200 on Thursday after Hwang made the announcement, and rose another 4.5 times since then.
The online community "I Love Hwang Woo-suk" (cafe.daum.net/ilovehws) had risen to 33,996 on Sunday from a mere 19,000 last week.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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