What about the women? Ethical and policy aspects of egg supply for cloning research.
As more and more countries open their doors to human cloning and embryonic stem cell research, scientists will be confronted with one fundamental problem: where will all the eggs come from? The mass harvesting of eggs raises serious issues about women's health, status and well-being. This paper critically examines proposals for ova supply such as altruistic donation, surplus IVF eggs and commercial sale. It questions the meaningfulness of informed consent and the risk-benefit ratio in a climate where powerful economic and social forces increasingly view the risks to women as the necessary trade-off for scientific advance.
George
Katrina
K
School of Law, University of Western Sydney, Penrith South DC NSW 1797, Australia. k.george@uws.edu.au
D000533:Altruism; D000818:Animals; D019976:Cloning, Organism / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D033041:Embryo Research / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D016471:Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome / Q000209:etiology; D018570:Risk Assessment