Story Published: Mar 17, 2010 at 7:14 AM PST
Story Updated: Mar 17, 2010 at 7:14 AM PST
The promotion, which has been described by some as a raffle, has sparked an ethical debate in Britain about whether women should be paid for their eggs - which is illegal in the European Union, but not in the United States.
The Genetics and IVF Institute held a free educational seminar for British couples on Wednesday. Of the participants, one will win a treatment cycle for donated in-vitro fertilization, to produce eggs. The prize is not based on a paid raffle.
In a statement, the clinic said its egg donors are college-educated women between 19 and 32. In the U.S., women are routinely paid from $10,000 to $35,000 or more for their eggs.
In Britain, women cannot be paid for their eggs and can only be compensated for their travel expenses and time off work; that cannot exceed more than 250 pounds (USD $384) per treatment cycle. To donate eggs, a woman must undergo a monthlong treatment that involves injecting herself with hormones and then undergoing a surgical procedure to retrieve the eggs.
Because the donated eggs - which may result from paying a woman for treatment - will happen in the U.S., the clinic is not technically breaking any British laws. But experts slammed the event as a publicity stunt.
"There's something shocking in the association of a raffle and giving away a human product," said Dr. Francoise Shenfield, a fertility and medical ethics expert at University College London. "In Europe, we have the general idea that altruism is a good thing and we don't want to turn human body parts into a commodity."
Shenfield, who has studied how many Europeans go abroad for infertility treatment, said it was impossible to know how many Britons were going to the U.S., since they are not obliged to report it. Many Europeans commonly seek treatment elsewhere to get around loopholes in their own country, like the number of eggs that can be retrieved or implanted, how much donors can be paid, and who is eligible to be treated.
Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates fertility treatment, said the U.S. clinic's raffle was inappropriate. "It trivializes altruistic donation," the agency said, and runs contrary to the regulations that exist "to protect the dignity of donors and recipients."
Trina Leonard, a spokeswoman for the Genetics and IVF Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, said the U.S. clinic was simply offering a seminar in London commonly held in the U.S.
"They're not raffling off a human egg," she said. Leonard said one person who comes to the seminar who wants to pursue a donated egg is given a free treatment cycle. She said the giveaway was promotional to introduce "new options" for people hoping to start a family.
She said the winner would be picked randomly, not according to need because that would be too complicated. The clinic has been giving away donor cycles valued at more than $10,000 for about a year, she said. Far more egg donors are available in the U.S. than in Britain.
According to the European Union's Tissues and Cells Directive, donors may only be paid for their inconvenience. But the figure varies across the continent. In Spain, women can receive up to about euro900 (about $1,200) for donating eggs.
Allan Pacey, a fertility expert at the University of Sheffield, said the British supply of donated eggs might be increased if women received more money for their time. "To donate an egg, you're really inconvenienced, and 250 pounds barely scratches the surface," he said.
Some women weren't sure if offering more money for eggs was a good idea.
Rhiannon Prytherch, 28, an actress and theatre manager in Darby, England, said even if she was offered money, she would not sell her eggs. "It doesn't feel like a commodity that should be profitable," she said. "I could never charge someone for that."
But Prytherch said she might feel differently if she were the one needing eggs. "If I were a woman who wanted to have a child, I would be willing to pay."
Pacey said the U.S. clinic's approach risked turning human eggs into a commercialized product. "Having a lottery (to get eggs) is not how we do things in this country," Pacey said.
