Recently, Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk, the Korean scientist who pioneered the stem cell research which made the rest of world feel jealous, admitted that two of his junior researchers had donated their egg cells for his research.

The issue was raised by people who suspected that the junior researchers were coerced to donate their egg cells. However, Dr. Hwang explicitly stated that he didn’t know they had donated, and in fact tried to persuade them not to donate their egg cells.

The Korean ethical rules on stem cell research mandate that one should not use the egg cells from their team members, and should not use commercial egg cells. It seems that Dr. Hwang’s lab used both.

However, the ethical rules are established years after Dr. Hwang started the research. In fact, I did not see any ethical issues here.

Taking egg cells from donors does pose a very small risk to them due to the minor surgery itself. But donating egg cells is not as harmful as what most common people think. It is the same thing as donating your blood and even less invasive than donating the bone marrow. If the team members donate their egg cells anonymously and out of their own wills, there is nothing wrong with it. If the research follows the double blind rule, neither researchers nor donors know which egg cell is from which person.

In addition, at the beginning of the stem cell research, there is a great misunderstanding of the research itself. Among several Korean people I talked with, they don’t fully understand the technique about donating egg cells and the implication of the stem cell research. It is very likely that Dr. Hwang might advertise his research within the institution and his two junior researchers were willing to donate their egg cells to move the research forward. During that time, the only reliable source of donors is those who understand the research.

Furthermore, there is also nothing wrong to use paid donors. People get paid by selling their blood, bone marrow, and kidneys. Participants in clinical trials usually get some sort of compensation such as free drugs or free medical examinations. Why should the stem cell research differ from others?

Yes, I know stem cell research is ethically controversial. There are great fears that malicious people may use the techniques to clone human beings, like making clone troopers in Star War. However, cloning human beings is far away from reality. In addition, from an embryo to an adult, it takes the same amount of years as natural human beings do, let alone the different education and environmental influence they may experience. Most possibly, the stem cell research can be used to cultivate organs from the patient cells, thus eliminating the rejection reaction. Researching stem cells for curative purpose is the ethic rule most countries have adopted.

Most American scientists are sad about the stem cell research in the US because George W. Bush had signed a law explicitly prohibiting establishing new stem cell lines and restricting certain research activities. The director in out stem cell research institute had to leave this country so that he can carry out his research in Europe.

The only thing I feel disappointed is that China hasn’t done anything significant in stem cell research yet. Even though China adopts the same strict rules as the US did, there are still abundant egg cells in China. But no advancement in research has been seen. What are those researchers doing now?