Human egg donors should not get paid for pain, risks or inconvenience they face
By
Serene Luo
Women should be allowed to withdraw their consent to donate their eggs to researchers at any point in time, even if the eggs have been harvested from their bodies. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
WOMEN who donate their eggs for research should be reimbursed only for their expenses such as cab fares, and earnings in the time taken.
They should not be paid for the inconvenience, the pain they undergo, nor the risks involved, said the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) of Singapore, which on Monday unveiled seven recommendations on the handling of human eggs donated for research.
BAC chairman Lim Pin said that it did not want human egg donation to become a 'business opportunity', where women made money by trading their eggs.
Two of the other main recommendations were:
The Ministry of Health should introduce regulation, even legislation, of how human eggs for research are handled.
At the moment, the MOH only regulates hospitals and clinics that provide assisted reproduction services, under the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act.
Women should be allowed to withdraw their consent to donate their eggs to researchers at any point in time, even if the eggs have been harvested from their bodies.
During the public consultation phase from last November to this January, and during the committee's meetings, it was generally agreed that giving human eggs for research was acceptable.
Human eggs can be used in creating stem cells that have the ability to become any other type of cell in the body.
Though some women already donate the excess eggs from their reproductive attempts, these are usually fertilised already, and have become embryos. Scientists will not be able to inject material to create cell lines that specific to a disease or patient.
