A human egg and sperm under high magnification. Women will be able to sell their eggs for scientific research after British regulators give the all-clear later this week.
Credit: Wikipedia
LONDON: Women will be able to sell their eggs for scientific research after British regulators give the all-clear later this week.
Those who have eggs harvested from their ovaries, in what doctors say is a potentially dangerous medical procedure, will receive £250 (A$620) and travel expenses, according to a report in the British newspaper The Guardian.
The fee is the existing maximum compensation for any egg or sperm donor, it added. The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the government regulator for the field, is expected to approve the move when it meets on Wednesday, the paper said.
Until now, only egg donation for fertility treatment was allowed, and removal was performed during in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment or during sterilisation procedures. Only spare eggs could be used for research.
The newspaper said the HFEA maintains that allowing women to give up eggs for scientific use only may help stem cell researchers find a cure for heart problems, infertility, diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Anyone agreeing to donate will have to show that they are acting for altruistic reasons, it added.
But there were signs of controversy building as some experts warned that poor women could be tempted or forced into taking part for the money. "The HFEA could be unwittingly opening the door to barter or sale of eggs," said Donna Dickenson, Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities at the University of London.
Dickenson, one of Britain's leading experts on the issue, said both women in Britain and abroad could be tempted, even though the government insists "that women doing this would do so for purely altruistic reasons." She added that £250 pounds would be enough to encourage women from eastern Europe to travel to Britain to undergo the procedure. "That's clearly turning eggs into an object of trade, and that's disturbing," she said.
Therapeutic cloning involves injecting the nucleus of an adult cell into an egg that has had its DNA removed. The resulting embryonic stem cells would be genetically identical to the adult cell donor patient. Scientists hope the cells could then be transplanted to successfully treat many different conditions.
Because of drugs used to stimulate the ovaries, egg donation can cause future fertility problems and, in rare cases, kidney disease and even death.
