The UK government says women can donate their eggs for research.

Chief Executive of the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), Angela McNab, said in a prepared statement that the HFEA has agreed to allow women to donate their eggs for research provided there are “strong safeguards in place to ensure the women are properly informed of the risks of the procedure and are properly protected from coercion.”

The UK already has a number of safeguards concerning egg donation for treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). These cover risks and benefits of egg donation, the legal status of doctors and the welfare of children born from donated eggs.

Women will be able to come forward and give their eggs as “altruistic donors”. Until now a woman has only been allowed to donate eggs for research if she is undergoing treatment, such as IVF or sterilization.

The HFEA said that since the medical risks for donation are no different to the risk of treatment, the government has no right to interfere in a woman’s choice of how her eggs should be used.

In effect regulation of egg donation will be covered by the same rules that govern harvesting eggs for treatment, with clear safeguards to prevent women from being coerced or misled into giving eggs or being told untruths about the likely impact their donation might have on research outcomes.

These clear safeguards include making sure the team that receives the eggs for research is not the same team that harvests the eggs from the donor. Also, that the donor is told what the eggs are likely to used for, with what chances of success. And the donor’s consent must be secured by a person who is not connected with the research.

Women who wish to donate their eggs will receive money for expenses such as travel and a modest sum to cover loss of earnings, similar to jury service, said the HFEA.

The UK already has an “egg sharing” scheme whereby women who donate eggs during IVF treatments to other women, pay less for their treatment.

“Women will not be paid for donating their eggs,” said Ms McNab.

She said that in the same way as women egg donors who are undergoing treatment, egg donors “can only claim back the expenses that they have actually incurred. There has never been any question of women receiving payment for donating their eggs for research at any stage of our deliberations,” she added.

Women considering egg donation will receive counselling about the risks and potential consequences of donation. The process will be carefully “paced” and researchers will be obliged to wait, said Ms McNab, until the woman has had time to consider her decision carefully.

Researchers use donor eggs to create cloned embryos from which stem cells can be extracted. Since stem cells can grow into any cell of the body, this provides essential materials for research into degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease.

As well as having her eggs harvested for donation, a woman can have them harvested and stored for her own use later. For example if she is about to undergo treatment for cancer that carries a risk to her eggs.

Other countries such as the United States already allow women to donate eggs for research.

The HFEA was established in 1991 following the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. Its main role is to license and monitor IVF and donor insemination clinics, and embryo research centres. It also regulates the storage of eggs, sperm and embryos.

Click here for more information on stem cell research from the Stem Cell Research Foundation (US).

Click here for the response from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to the HFEA consultation on egg donation for research. (PDF).

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today