Women’s health and public interest groups warn against putting women’s health at risk in new kind of research cloning
Center for Genetics and Society, Our Bodies Ourselves, Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research, and Alliance for Humane Biotechnology Question Egg Harvesting for Speculative Research
A study published today in Nature
asserts that a new kind of research cloning justifies asking young
women to undergo invasive egg extraction procedures, and argues that
paying women thousands of dollars for their eggs will not induce them to
downplay or even ignore the risks involved. Simultaneous publications
in Cell Stem Cell press the case for paying women for eggs for
research, a practice which is legally prohibited in many jurisdictions
around the world, including California, and is highly controversial.
Marcy Darnovsky, PhD, Associate Executive Director of the Center for Genetics and Society, says:
“This
new form of research cloning, like the old one, still represents a
highly speculative approach to stem cell research. We should not put the
health of young women at risk, especially to get raw materials for such
exploratory investigations.”
In
women who undergo egg harvesting for fertility purposes, serious adverse
reactions, while not common, occur regularly. A few deaths have been
reported. It is widely acknowledged that follow-up studies have been
inadequate. Judy Norsigian, executive director of Our Bodies Ourselves,
notes that:
“There is a
critical need for much better safety data—even in the context of
fertility treatment where the use of young women’s eggs often results in
babies for women utilizing assisted reproductive technologies. Women
need adequate information about the long-term risks of multiple egg
extraction techniques, including the risks of drugs that suppress
ovarian function before hyper-stimulation of the ovaries. Without such
data, informed choice is not really possible, whether the eggs are
sought for research or reproductive purposes.”
The authors of the Nature report
note that one of the women from whom they obtained eggs for their work
produced 26 eggs. Some fertility doctors warn that no more than 10–15
eggs should be extracted from a woman's ovaries in a single cycle,
because “when the egg number exceeds 20, the risk of OHSS [ovarian
hyperstimulation syndrome] becomes high.”[i]
The authors claim to have followed the guidelines of the
American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), but they did not. For
example, they offered a sum of money significantly higher than the ASRM
guidelines allow. Nor did they follow the recommendations of the
International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) that “the treating
physician or infertility clinician should not also be the investigator
who is proposing to perform research on the donated materials.”
Comments Susan Fogel, co-director of the Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research:
“Concerns
about paying women for eggs for research are widespread. In California,
home to very robust stem cell research efforts, payment is prohibited
both by CIRM's founding legislation and by independent legislation.
Payment for eggs is also illegal in many countries including Canada,
Britain, France, Australia, Belgium, Italy and China.”
The authors speculate that with enough eggs, they might be able
to produce genome-specific stem cells. However, they offer no
discussion of any exploratory research in animal models. For example,
what have been the findings, if any, of animal research seeking to
identify the oocyte nuclear factor that they hypothesize?
“We
cannot now justify the solicitation of young women to provide eggs for
this kind of speculative research,” says Diane Beeson of the Alliance
for Humane Biotechnology.
The Center for Genetics and Society is a
non-profit public affairs and policy advocacy organization working to
encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of human
genetic and reproductive biotechnologies. Contact Marcy Darnovsky,
510-625-0819 ext 305.
The Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research (PCARR) is a coalition of reproductive
rights and justice advocates, bioethicists, academics and community
leaders working to promote democratic accountability, safety and social
justice in biomedical research from a women's rights perspective.
Contact Susan Fogel, 818-785-7220.
Our Bodies Ourselves is a women’s health education and advocacy organization known for the landmark book Our Bodies, Ourselves. Contact Judy Norsigian, 617-245-0200 ext 11.
The Alliance for Humane Biotechnology
is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising public awareness
about the social implications of emerging biotechnologies. Contact Diane
Beeson, 510-917-0474.
[i] Dr Arri Coomarasamy, Press Release from the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), May 2011
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