Boston Globe Examines Ethics, Standards Of Egg Donation

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 28 Jun 2006 - 15:00 PDT

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The Boston Globe on Sunday examined egg donation and the ethics and standards surrounding the process. Egg donors usually charge at least $5,000 per donation cycle -- which is the time between when the eggs are stimulated and when they are extracted -- and no governmental or industry group tracks how many times women donate eggs, what they receive for compensation or how many women donate, according to the Globe. In addition, scientists do not know the long-term effects of egg donation on women's fertility, the Globe reports. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has set ethical guidelines for brokers and clinics regarding egg donation, including paying no donor more than $10,000 per donation cycle, allowing no donor to be younger than age 21 and permitting no more than six donations in a lifetime. Although ASRM has no authority to enforce the guidelines, many clinics and donor agents "officially pledge" to follow the guidelines to "attract business," the Globe reports. However, Brian Berger -- medical director of the Donor Egg and Gestational Carrier program at Boston IVF, a fertility treatment center -- said, "Just about every agency that I'm aware of has self-reported to ASRM that they follow the guidelines. I can say that of the agencies that say they adhere to the guidelines, 90% of them are lying." Berger has said that he is unsure whether government regulation is the answer to the ethical concerns surrounding egg donation, adding, "[O]nce regulators get involved, they impair our ability to practice medicine the way we think it should be practiced." However, the "lack of business-practice standards, particularly around fees, is worrisome to many who have watched the industry grow," according to the Globe. Debora Spar, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of "The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception," said there needs to be some regulation such as "basic, simple rules of the road ... that focus on the health of the parties involved." She added, "I would include among the parties the donors, the recipients and the children, and none of those folks right now receive protection by law the way I think they should." In 2003, 14,323 embryos created from donated eggs were implanted into recipients, the Globe reports (Hempel, Boston Globe, 6/25).

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