New York's Empire State Stem Cell Board has $600 million in state funding for stem cell studies. The only problem? It needs more stem cells! So the board has decided to let researchers pay women up to $10,000 for the discomfort, time, and expenses involved with donating their eggs for stem cell experiments.
Fans of the unprecedented plan say it removes a great obstacle to finding treatments for life threatening diseases. Researchers say that a lack of compensation made it nearly impossible to convince women to donate their eggs. That may be because the process is not simple. Women have to take hormone injections for weeks that stimulate their ovaries to produce eggs. Then they have to undergo a painful extraction procedure.
Fertility clinics are successful in getting women to undergo the process because they compensate them — so science says it just wants part of the action. Critics say that the practice amounts to human body-part trafficking and worry that underprivileged women will be pressured to donate their eggs for the money.
How much would it take for you to sell your eggs?
Fornarina
Butterfly
Calvin Klein
I'm currently in the process of selling mine for $6500. I really wish I could do it for stem cell research as well. It's such a worthy cause and I certainly won't be putting them to good use.
1Thats interesting. Definitely something to think about.
2They could have accomplished the same thing for 5 or 6 thousand, I imagine.
3I have seriously considered donating eggs as an adult. I haven't looked into it much, and I'm not sure how my husband would feel about it. The thought of being able to help an infertile couple have a child or further scientific research is really appealing to me. Very provocative subject, Tres.
4I would definitely do it, mainly because you're giving someone a wonderful gift for very little effort on your part--$10,000 would be nice but I would do it for less.
5I have been thinking about doing this, mainly to help those who want children and can't have them. Compensation isn't a bad thing; just something extra.
6Take them, take them all. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's not for the money -it totally is. I could easily smooth out a lot of my financial woes with $10K
7pixiedust - there's actually a lot of effort that goes into it; at least that's been my experience so far. There's a long process that you have to complete (physical and psychological components) before you're even put on a registry, plus injections, disruption of your own cycle/hormones, and the actual surgery. I guess that's why we get paid more than sperm donors, huh?
8Let us know when they do it in CA, I am so there.
9Can I sign up? lol. I don't live in NY but I love close enough to commute. $10,000 would be amazing right now.
10In france to donnate is not paid and is anonymous.
11I could never ever do it, I cherish my Family too much to farm my DNA out
12I get that everyone is pretty ok with the whole $10,000 thing, but did you read the part about WEEKS of hormone injections? PAINFUL surgery?
13I had a friend who was going to do this but after a few weeks on all the extra hormones she was going crazy and had to stop. If you plan on doing it for noble reasons then good for you, but I feel then do it for free (or donate the money to a worthy cause like curing childhood cancer) but if you are doing it for the money then you need to really think past all the $$$ and know what it is your getting into.
Plus they are super strict about who they pick (very small percentage).
I could never do it.
14uhmm i live in ny... never though about it but 10K thats a lot of money.... i would have to think about it, mainly i would do it for research... uhmm... surgery not very appealing though
15If I could live with the hormones throwing my mood out of whack and the fact that I had stop smoking while my hormones are out of whack, then $10,000 would be enough.
16You get 10k, but then how is that money taxed by the state and gov't? I guess it depends on your current income bracket.
17The stem cell people are not going to take a small percentage of applicants. They could give a care, stem cells are all the same. It's the people who are actually going to have your DNA walking around that are picky.
18I've been unemployed for the last year, even though I am a certified teacher and have awesome recommendations. I technically work 3 hours a week at a diner, but $25 isn't enough to get me by. my teenage brother ends up giving me spending money and I live in his room. Not feeling sorry for myself, just giving the circumstances which make egg donation an interesting choice. However, I would only do it for research, not to make a baby. Thanks for posting this-i am actually looking it up.
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