$5000 for eggs ...

what a way to pay for uni or make money ...

Women exploiting legal loophole to sell human eggs over Internet
DENNIS BUECKERT

OTTAWA (CP) - Almost two years after the federal government passed a law banning the sale of human eggs, women are still advertising their ova for sale on the Internet - and Health Canada has no problem with it.

The sale of eggs and other genetic material was banned under the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act, passed in 2004 after a $24-million royal commission and more than a decade of debate. But a Health Canada official says the act does not ban the advertising of human genetic materials, only their purchase.

"It's a payment to a donor that is illegal," said Francine Manseau. "Advertising is not illegal."

That's a surprise to University of British Columbia geneticist Patricia Baird, who headed the 1993 Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies.

"I'm very surprised," said Baird. "Clearly, if it's illegal to sell eggs, it should be illegal to advertise selling them. The potential for exploitation of women who need money to sell their eggs is enormous."

Egg harvesting is an invasive procedure which requires donor women to take powerful hormones, usually by injections that first stimulate then suppress the ovaries. The procedure is painful and involves medical risks.

The procedure is also controversial from the perspective of children born through in vitro fertilization. Many of them are frustrated that they cannot get information about their genetic origins.

Health Canada has made virtually no effort enforce the legislation or to educate people about the reasons for it, charged Diane Allen of Toronto-based Infertility Network.

"What does it mean when we as a society allow or turn a blind eye to the recruitment of young women to be egg donors when we don't know the long term consequences of that both in terms of their physical health . . . and also the psychological issues?

"For a young woman in university struggling to finish her year it's a pretty attractive proposition - $5000 to give up your eggs. Would you want your daughter to do this? I mean, it's not like eggs from the store."

She noted that Canada does not permit the purchase and sale of human organs, even though their availability is a matter of life and death for some patients.

Manseau insisted that the Assisted Human Reproduction Act is being taken seriously and will be enforced. She said the department has inspectors and enforcement capacity but the first task is education.

But Allen said she is not aware of any significant effort in that area.

"There's no campaign on the part of Health Canada and I can't see who else could do it to really educate the public or the patients as to the reasons for the legislation, about what it means to commercialize human life."


Internet rush to buy human eggs
February, 2001
BBC News

... In the UK, where the practice of egg buying is illegal, ... in the UK, where fertility treatments are highly regulated, this can mean a wait of up to three years before a suitable egg becomes available on the anonymous donor programme.

Now, British couples are turning in growing numbers to the United States, particularly California, where it is legal to buy and sell eggs. Information on donors, including pictures and educational details, is posted on the internet by agencies. ...

UK couples can search this information and select a donor before flying out to America to have the egg implanted.

The eggs themselves can be priced as high as $5,000 but legal and other costs will push the final bill for the trip up $20,000.

According to the US agencies servicing this growing British market, up to 60% of the couples return pregnant to the UK. ...