HUMAN EGG PROVIDER PROJECT

“...Dr. Jacques Testart...believed that in ten years there would be an epidemic of premature menopause and reproductive cancers caused by (fertility) drugs....I asked why he and other scientists were continuing their work despite these concerns. Testart’s answer was chilling: ‘Because...we are learning a lot about conception and contraception, and that is the important thing.”
— Ann Pappert, Ms. Magazine 2000

(Figure from R. Steinbrook, N. Engl. J. Med. 2006; 354:324-326)

(Figure from R. Steinbrook, N. Engl. J. Med. 2006; 354:324-326)

Why do bio-entrepreneurs want access to women’s eggs? Pressures on young women to grant access to their eggs are increasing. Women’s eggs are raw material for research on and genetic manipulation of human embryos.

What is involved in harvesting a woman’s eggs? Women undergoing egg retrieval undertake real yet poorly studied health risks. To retrieve her eggs, a woman first takes one set of powerful synthetic hormones to shut down her ovaries, then another to hyperstimulate them to induce a yield of eggs many times the normal number.  Whether this is done as part of her own fertility treatment, or to donate eggs to another woman, or for medical research, the process is the same.


What are known health risks associated with egg retrieval?
Vaginal, intra-abdominal, and intestinal bleeding
Post-anesthesia pain
Ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, mild to severe:
-- bloating, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath
-- blood clots
-- organ failure
-- death
Infertility
Possible ovarian and other cancers 

How are women’s eggs harvested?
A woman must inject herself daily with hormones for one to three weeks. These hormones stimulate the growth of ovarian follicles, suppress ovulation, and promote egg maturation. When the eggs are ready the woman is brought into surgery, given intravenous sedation, and a trans-vaginal probe is inserted into her vagina.  A hollow needle emerges from the probe, pierces the back of the vagina and is pushed into the ovary, where the eggs are sucked out of each follicle one by one. Where women naturally produce one egg a month, a woman undergoing this procedure typically produces at least a dozen eggs, although reports of harvesting many more than that are not unusual. 

How can women get better information about health risks associated with providing eggs? AHB joins other groups calling for more and better studies of egg donor risks so that women may be offered a meaningful informed consent before agreeing to have their ovaries hyperstimulated and their eggs retrieved.  AHB calls for a national registry to track the health and well-being of women donating eggs, the prohibition of payment for egg donation, and a moratorium on egg donation for research until the long-term health risks are better understood:


SIGN HUMAN EGG PROVIDER PETITION


For more information:

Visit We Are Egg Donors website

Tober, Diane, et al, Egg donor self-reports of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome:

Twelve percent of the 289 U.S. egg donors who participated in the study experienced severe OHSS that required paracentesis. An additional 1.58% had criticall OHSS and were hospitalized for up to a week due to complications.

CONSIDER THESE WOMEN who have suffered serious health consequences or death after having their ovaries stimulated using synthetic hormones.

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Lupron:

Lupron is one of the drugs used frequently in fertility clinics as part of the egg harvesting process even though it was never approved by the FDA for that purpose.  It has caused thousands of adverse health consequences.  
 
For more information, visit the Lupron Victim's Hub.