Egg donor compensation expected to triple
The UK's fertility watchdog is considering tripling the compensation given to women who donate eggs to help infertile couples have a child.
Donors currently receive up to £250 to cover expenses and lost earnings.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is expected to decide later to pay £750, which some experts hope will encourage more women to donate.
But critics warn that it will create financial incentives for donation, which can be a risky procedure.
The final decision on compensation will be made at a meeting of the HFEA later. It will also rule on whether compensation for sperm donors should be increased.
There are currently long waits in the UK - sometimes five years or more - for couples seeking donor eggs.
In a significant number of cases they travel abroad for treatment, often to Spain or the United States, where payments are higher and more women volunteer.
Invasive process
But there can be risks involved with having treatment in countries where regulations are less stringent.
Egg donation is an invasive process, which involves daily hormone injections, scans every couple of days, and day surgery to recover the eggs.
Side-effects range from mood swings, bloating and pain, to rare but severe over-reactions to the hormones.
ºLesley Spencer has been looking for a donor for two years and would welcome a payment for participants
The HFEA says some women who donate eggs currently make a financial loss by doing so.
The National Gamete Donation Trust, which helps couples seeking egg or sperm donors, welcomed the anticipated change.
"A balance is being struck between recognising the wonderful gift of donation yet not affecting the purity of donors' motives," said Laura Witjens, chairwoman of the ºNGDT.
The British Fertility Society supports an increase in compensation payment, but said it was important to ensure that women continued to volunteer for altruistic reasons.
"The level of compensation should be raised so that it is commensurate with what a donor has to go through," said BFS chair, Tony Rutherford.
But opponents worry about the impact of increased payments.
Dr David King, Director of Human Genetics Alert, said it would create a financial incentive for women.
"Ethically, it's wrong to make part of the human body a commodity," he said. "The body should not be part of commerce."
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said "Egg harvesting is an invasive and dangerous process and women should not be induced with ever larger sums of money to incur such risks."
BBC Online October 2011
