The Commercialization of Human Eggs in Mitochondrial Replacement Research

After the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) in 2007, the pressure to commercialize women’s eggs for stem cell research could have been expected to lessen. However, the pressure to harvest human eggs in large quantities for research has not diminished; rather, it has taken different directions, for example in germline mitochondrial research. Yet there has been little acknowledgement of these technologies’ need for human eggs, the possible risks to women and the ethical issues concerning potential exploitation. Rather, there has been a renewed campaign to legalize payment for eggs in research, although the actual scientific advances are at best modest. This article shows why a market in women’s eggs is ethically problematic in terms of the doctor’s duty to do no harm and the limitations of ‘informed’ consent.

Introduction: Just When You Thought it was Safe to Go Back in the
Water...

For the past decade I have been concerned about both the threat of an international trade in human ova for stem cell research and the way in which that troubling possibility has been largely ignored in...