Human Egg Donations Surge

But Some Question Whether Too Many Women Are In It For The Money

(AP) 
"It does feel a little more like the Wild West than it ought to," says Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. And he only sees the problem growing as states such as California move closer to funding major stem-cell research, requiring more donor eggs.

"We worry that we offer people so much money that they are blind to the risk and their motivation is strictly the money," Kahn says.

That's the very reason, he notes, that it is illegal to sell an organ, such as a kidney, for donation. "So I'm not comfortable saying we should start that with human eggs," he says.

A small survey from an Illinois clinic, included at a recent ASRM meeting, found that donors used compensation for everything from savings and down-payments on property to school expenses and car payments. Half of them also used some of the money to pay credit-card debt and other loans.

Kristin McKenna, a 25-year-old project manager at a marketing company in suburban Atlanta, donated eggs to help build her savings.

"It does feel weird to know there's a child out there," says McKenna, who's signed up to donate again. "But I'm just a small piece of the puzzle.

"If those two people (who got her eggs) weren't there wanting a child, that child would not exist."

Dr. Lorna Marshall, a fertility specialist in Seattle, says egg recipients often ask to write letters of gratitude to their donors, who remain anonymous in most cases.

But when it comes to money, she asks them to steer clear of donors who get more than $5,000, no matter the circumstances.

Occasionally, Marshall also has had to reject eggs from donors who've been OK'd by a private egg broker, but are younger than 21, the minimum age recommended by the ASRM. The thought is that, by that age, a young woman is old enough to better understand the choice she's making.

But Grainger and some others in the field concede that even the most careful guidelines can't absolutely prevent regrets later in life. That was the case for one young woman who initially told herself she was donating to help prospective parents.

"But if I'm honest, I did it for financial reasons; I wanted to travel," says the 31-year-old woman who lives in New York and works for an international nonprofit. She asked to remain anonymous since her family doesn't know she donated eggs three times.

"It would be a relief to know that my eggs were being used to find medical cures," she says, "rather than being used to produce additional kids for well-to-do American families."

[rf35]

I think donating eggs for stem cell research is a great thing, but not to put more people on our planet. If a woman could be assured the eggs would not be used to contribute to overpopulation, then I am all for it. If a couple cannot have kids, there might just be a reason for that! If they insist on raising a child, there are many availible at the nearest orphanage.

[bigwhtpony]

The only eggs I have are the ones the Easter Bunny left me last year :(

There's just something foul about this......can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems wrong.