New Stem Cell Ethics Issue Emerges-Researchers need fresh human eggs and want to buy

[Rosalinda]

Traditional embryonic stem cells are derived from fertility clinic leftovers. Their genetic makeup is left to chance. Customized stem cells are given a specific genetic identity from a particular patient. They are clones of a patient’s cells.

latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-stemcells13sep13,0,4510689.story?page=1&coll=la-home-headlines

The race is still on to clone human beings. Note how quickly demands have moved from I.V.F.left-overs to attempting to justify the practice of recruiting healthy women under 30 to buy their eggs. Nevertheless, researchers still pretend there is no way they would ever allow a cloned human baby to be born. Incrementally, as each obstacle is overcome, the ethical barriers will be overcome. After all, researchers are already working on artificial wombs to nuture these embryos.

It would seem something good did come out of California’s Proposition 71.

The first explicit prohibition on paying egg donors appeared in Proposition 71, the 2004 California initiative that authorized $3 billion in state spending on stem cell research. In an effort to prevent the exploitation of women and to make the measure more appealing to voters, it specifically ruled out compensation to publicly funded researchers, though it does permit reimbursement for some expenses.

 

[Rosalinda]

In this LifeSiteNews article a British woman died perhaps because a major artery was accidentally pierced during an oocyte (egg) extraction. It highlights the very real immediate danger involved in these invasive procedures, to say nothing of long-term risks.

IVF procedures have recently drawn the attention of both pro-family, pro-woman, and some radical feminist groups, since many scientists have pushed for human cloning for embryonic stem-cell research. This procedure would create a demand for women to donate their eggs, or, as more recent news has suggested, to sell them, and could lead to a large increase in complications already recorded from IVF treatment.

lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06081006.html

 

[Rosalinda]

This article entitled, “Women overlooked in biotech debate” is from an Australian point of view.

Cloning always amounts to the commodification of women’s bodies. Even if egg donors are motivated by altruism, the biotechnology companies are profit-making ventures. In one 2002 study some egg donors used farm-animal metaphors to describe the experience. “I just got the feeling … you were second class … I’m just the produce stand … like the cow at the market,” remarked Chris. Melanie likened the experience to prostitution: “I definitely wasn’t in charge there … You’ve rented your body out … It was like you were some kind of prized heifer or something.”

theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20152285-7583,00.html

 

[Rosalinda]

Zenit New Agency reported,
"Pressuring Women to Freeze or Donate Their Ova
Fears of Exploitation by Biotechnology Mount"

**It points to the demand for Russian and Polish ova because couples want blond, blue-eyed children. I have seen websites paying up to $50,000. for ova. The poster girl fit such a description. Undoubtedly she was eager to defray the costs of her university education but one wonders how much that money will mean when she decides to start her own family and learns scarring from these donation procedures have left her infertile. **

**Finally, a reference to studies on the long-term consequences. Zenit cited an increase in uterine cancers but I have read concerns about ovarian cancer. No one of course is too anxious to do a follow-up study because profit is the name of the game. **

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there were 14,323 embryo implantations using donated eggs in 2003** in the United States**. There is little control, however, over either the business practices of ova donation or the health risks.

zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=94950