Egg-sploitation Questions and Answers

• Why does embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) involve women?
• What exactly is ESCR?
• So is ESCR the same thing as cloning?
• Are women’s eggs currently harvested?
• Why do women sell their eggs?
• What does the procedure involve?
• Is the procedure painful?
• What are some of the risks of egg donation?
• Who does “egg donation”? If it’s so risky, why do they do it?
• Let’s say that embryonic stem cell research goes forward. How many young women will be required to facilitate the research?

Why does embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) involve women?
Women’s eggs are necessary to create the embryo, even a cloned embryo, from which the embryonic stem cells are extracted.

Cloning advocate Dr. Robert Lanza, who also acts as medical director of the biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology Inc., recently explained, “Without eggs, there's no research.” (1)

 
What exactly is ESCR?
ESCR uses the stem cells taken from embryos (human babies in their earliest stage of development) in an attempt to find cures and treatments for a variety of health issues. The removal of the stem cells from the embryo always results in its immediate destruction. (2)

 
So is ESCR the same thing as cloning?
ESCR requires stem cells from an embryo, either one that is cloned or one that is created by the union of a sperm and egg. The theory behind ESCR is that we will have tailor made cures for each person. Once a cure has been found, in order to create the necessary stem cell line for a patient, a clone made from a female egg injected with the donor DNA would be created. It would then be harvested and destroyed for its stem cells. (3)

 
Are women’s eggs currently harvested?
Yes. Women “donate” their eggs to women who are attempting in vitro fertilization and whose own eggs are not suitable for conception. The term “donate” is used because it’s illegal to buy or sell human body parts, and a human egg is considered a body part.

Since the women aren’t “selling” their eggs, they are “compensated” for risk, discomfort, pain, etc.

 
Why do women sell their eggs?
Some women want to help people, and others need the money. The majority of women fall into the latter category. It’s no surprise that the ads tend to be directed at college age women. Pick up an independent paper in a major city and you’ll probably find the ads. Craigslist and other advertising outlets also contain the ads.

In March, the Today Show featured Maureen Lewis, a young college student who was in her second round of “donation.” While she said that she was happy to help couples, she admitted that the money was a motivating factor. Lewis joked, “It is helping me expand my shoe collection quite a bit.” (4)

Women receive upwards of $3000– $5000, and in some cases considerably more for a treatment, which takes about 5-8 weeks.

 
What does the procedure involve?
Once a woman has been matched with a donor (or a research facility), she is generally required to be sexually abstinent for one to two months before the procedure. For about two weeks, the woman injects herself with fertility drugs 1-2 times a day. For the retrieval of the eggs, the woman goes to a clinic for a surgery. An ultrasound probe is used to guide a 12 inch needle (5) into each mature follicle of both ovaries. The painful procedure is often followed by cramping and other discomfort. There is always the risk of puncturing surrounding tissue organs causing injury, bleeding, and/or infection. Full recovery takes about 10-14 days. (6)

 
Is the procedure painful?
Yes. “…a majority of donors will report pain…from the procedure.” (7) The possible side effects of the procedure include “pain from needle insertion” as well as “pain from manipulation of the uterus and/or ovaries”. (8) One donor at the UC Davis Medical Center fertility clinic “did feel blaring pain at one point, opening her eyes momentarily…” (9) This pain was great enough to wake her while under sedation.

 
What are some of the risks of egg donation?
According to FDA files, over 6,000 complaints and 25 documented deaths are linked to Lupron, a drug commonly used during the process of hyperstimulation (10). One of the most common complications is called ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). Calla Papademus, a Stanford student, had agreed to have her eggs harvested for $24,000. As a result of OHSS, she went into a coma that lasted six weeks. Other reported complications include stroke, severe pelvic pain, nausea, vomiting, weight gain, ovarian enlargement, respiratory problems, blocking of blood vessels by blood clots, and liver dysfunction. It is also thought to cause infertility (11).

The Egg Donor Project at Stanford University offers the following concerning some of the risks:

Because egg retrieval involves surgery, donors may occasionally suffer structural damage to organs in close proximity to the ovaries. Major injury to the bladder, bowel, uterus, blood vessels or other pelvic structures occurs in approximately 1 in 500 to 1000 surgeries. Though the procedure is performed under sedation or mild anesthesia, egg retrieval can cause mild to moderate discomfort. Surgical risks include acute ovarian trauma, infection, infertility, vaginal bleeding, and lacerations. Additionally, anesthetic complications may occur, although they are rare in healthy women. In one study of 674 women who underwent egg retrieval, 1.5 percent required hospitalization due to complications occurring during or after surgery. (12)

 
Who does “egg donation”? If it’s so risky, why do they do it?
In fact, it’s young women who are more likely to do it. Typically they don’t know and don’t understand the seriousness of the risks, and they most often are faced with an immediate need for cash. They also have the most likelihood of a healthy supply of eggs. A young college student, for example, will see the dollar signs and think it’s easy cash. That’s why in vitro fertilization clinics effectively target young college women as egg donors. More of the same young women would be targeted by research institutes in order to facilitate embryonic stem cell research which requires a woman’s egg.

 
Let’s say that embryonic stem cell research goes forward. How many young women will be required to facilitate the research?
First, let’s make it clear that there have been no advances in embryonic stem cell research in spite of over 20 years of research. The only advances in stem cell research have been with adult stem cells, not embryonic. In fact adult stem cells have been used successfully to treat at least 60 different conditions so far.

Suppose embryonic stem cells are found to effectively treat diabetes. Well, to date, the highest cloning efficiency with animals has been 20-30 percent. This means about 50 eggs per animal treatment are required. In the US, there are 17 million diabetes patients. Women whose eggs are harvested yield 10-20 eggs per cycle. Given the best successes with animal cloning, scientists would have to obtain a minimum of 850 million eggs, harvested from at least 85 million women. According to the 2000 census, there are about 60 million American women of reproductive age, which leaves us wondering where all the eggs will come from? (13)

(1) Los Angeles Times, “New Stem Cell Ethics Issue Emerges,” by Karen Kaplan, p. A1, September 13, 2006.

(2) Cf. http://www.stemcellresearch.org/testimony/prentice-ppt.pdf.

(3) Ibid.

(4) http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=9959cb2d-1d37-4206-a42e-3028ebe0430e&f=kw_goog

(5) http://www.sacbee.com/303/v-print/story/28403.html

(6) Cf. http://www.acrm.com/EggDonation/DonationProcess.htm; http://nationwideeggdonation.com/donors.htm.

(7) http://www.stanford.edu/class/siw198q/websites/eggdonor/procedures.html

(8) Procedure consent form of Randy S. Morris M.D.; Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility

(9) http://www.sacbee.com/303/v-print/story/28403.html

(10) http://handsoffourovaries.com/images/beesontestimony.pdf

(11) http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=1425

(12) http://www.stanford.edu/class/siw198q/websites/eggdonor/procedures.html.

(13) Cf. http://www.stemcellresearch.org/testimony/prentice-ppt.pdf. Dr. Prentice is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Medical. He compiled the numbers from the data currently available. Dr. Hwang’s recent cloning attempts in South Korea were even less successful.