To address infertility problems, scientist has come up with an ingenuous solution for infertile couples who want to have their own offspring without turning to adoption. One of the more popular assisted reproductive technology procedures is egg donation. This procedure involves harvesting healthy eggs from women (egg donors) for purposes of assisted reproduction. Egg donors are usually healthy young women recruited through different forms of advertisement. In these ads, egg donation is presented as a safe procedure that offers young women two benefits: the opportunity to help infertile couples and to earn some extra cash. Unfortunately, this is not the whole picture.

The infertility industry has a dirty little secret that is dressed in deceptive advertising, large monetary incentives and appeals to altruism. Using these tactics, the industry targets young, vulnerable women for a precious commodity: human eggs. Eggsploitation, a new documentary released recently by The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, is a tragic spotlight on the booming and risky business of selling eggs, and reveals the health risks and exploitation of women through egg donation. Eggsploitation debuts at The Little Theatre in Rochester, New York, on Monday, August 9, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.

Eggsploitation profiles three highly educated young women—Calla, Alexandra and Sindy—all who suffered extreme health consequences related to their egg donation. Dangerous health complications can occur during the egg donation process as a result of taking high doses of fertility drugs or the egg retrieval surgery, or both. Their disturbing testimonies about their experience with egg donation are a wake-up call to a highly unregulated, multi-billion-dollar industry that is jeopardizing young women’s health at the expense of fulfilling another’s desire to have a baby.

Calla suffered a stroke, brain damage and loss of her own fertility; Alexandra lost an ovary due to complications related to superovulation and later developed breast cancer; and Sindy developed severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). All three women nearly died due to the complications associated with their egg donation. In an interview for the film, Calla recounts, “The industry knew that this would happen sooner or later. They’ve just been rolling the dice and it fell on me. It was worth the money to them.”

With the rise of assisted reproductive technology, young, healthy women are targeted on university campuses with advertisements in college newspapers and on the Internet. Fertility clinics place advertisements in search of egg donors with desirable genetic traits, attractive appearance and a high IQ. These women are lured by the large sums of money and assured of the safety of the procedure and the nobility of helping others.

Egg donation is presented as a safe procedure, but the reality is quite the opposite. Eggsploitation blows the whistle on the disturbing realities of the infertility industry’s human egg trade. This film is a call to action to egg donors and the general public to confront the exploitative practices of egg donation and seek legislative action to protect women’s health.

Related articles:

• Human Egg Raffle Sparks Controversy (bettyconfidential.com)
• Desperate hunt for donor eggs forces couples to seek IVF abroad (telegraph.co.uk)

Nearly all of us hope to have our own family one day. We may dream of other things as well and pursue our careers (nowadays it’s often possible to follow your dreams and have a family too) but we are likely to have kids under our feet before too long and to relish this as well most of the time! It is expected that when we grow up, we leave home, get a job, marry and create a family of our own. And by family, I mean a mother, a father, and children.

Having kids running around our house is a wonderful feeling for every parent. For most, a family is not complete without children. Unfortunately, some couples find it very hard to conceive. So, they resort to procedures and other means to have babies of their own. Fertility drugs and certain procedures are blessings to couples who are having a hard time creating a child. These have made huge changes to the lives of millions of couples worldwide. However, along with the benefits, there are also some possible risks and side effects..

The widespread use of fertility drugs, not just high-tech laboratory procedures, plays a major role in causing multiple births and  contributes to the problem of premature birth in the United States, experts said at the March of Dimes National Communications Advisory Council luncheon.

Working with experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Joann Petrini, PhD, assistant director of research at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut and an advisor to the March of Dimes, found that controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) drugs — which are used to stimulate a woman’s ovaries to speed the maturity and multiply the production of eggs — account for four times more live births than assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) such as in vitro fertilization.

“Many people have focused on the role of ARTs in multiples and have not fully appreciated that fertility drugs alone are responsible for one out of every five multiple births,” said Dr. Petrini. “There is a very high possibility of multi-fetal pregnancy resulting from these drugs, and that brings a high risk of prematurity and lifelong health problems for the babies as a consequence.”

Patients should inform their doctors that their goal is a single baby and that they wish them to use treatments that minimize the risk of multiple pregnancy, said Richard Dickey, MD, PhD, medical director of The Fertility Institute of New Orleans and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences School of Medicine at New Orleans.

“A doctor’s goal when prescribing fertility drugs is one healthy baby,” said Dr. Dickey. “Doctors should not hesitate to cancel ovulation stimulation cycles and to tell their patients to avoid trying to get pregnant if an ultrasound shows there are too many eggs present in a cycle and the risk of multiples is high. “The March of Dimes urges more research and leadership from professional societies to develop specific guidelines and encourage acceptance of best practices for the proper use and dosage of fertility drugs, as well as the careful counseling and monitoring of women treated with these drugs.  Also, the March of Dimes said a system is needed to monitor how many multiples births are caused by fertility drugs and to hold professionals accountable to industry guidelines. Women who are taking fertility drugs should always ask their doctor what they can do to prevent having a multi-fetal pregnancy.

About 88,000 babies are born preterm annually as a result of the recent increase of twins, triplets, and other multiple births.  About 60 percent of twins, more than 90 percent of triplets and virtually all quadruplets and higher-order multiples are born prematurely. In addition to the increased risks associated with multiple birth, studies have also suggested that even infants born singly but conceived with ovulation stimulation are at increased risk for preterm birth than naturally conceived single births, the study authors pointed out.

The March of Dimes said it is critical for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and other clinical societies to develop clear guidelines on the use of fertility drugs to help prevent many premature births.

More than 540,000 babies are born too soon each year in the United States.  Preterm birth costs the nation more than $26 billion annually, according to the Institute of Medicine. It is the leading cause of newborn death, and babies who survive an early birth face the risk of lifelong health problems, such as breathing problems, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and vision and hearing loss.  Even babies born just a few weeks too soon (34-36 weeks gestation, also known as late preterm birth) have higher rates of death and disability than full-term babies.

For the latest resources and information, visit marchofdimes.com or nacersano.org.

Related articles:

• Fertility treatment tied to risk of cerebral palsy (nationalpost.com)
• Six little miracles (thesun.co.uk)

The already controversial BeautifulPeople.com, a dating site with a strict ban on ugly people, has taken this one step further, and this will surely be hotly debated again. It has recently launched a virtual sperm and egg bank for people who want to have beautiful babies. The Beautiful Baby service – which is also available to non-members – was created for people who want to maximize their chances of having good looking children.

This raises for me all sorts of disturbing issues. Who will decide what beauty is, for instance? And is not beauty a quality of the inner heart and of character as much as a visual phenomenon?

Managing director Greg Hodge said: “BeautifulPeople.com has launched a fertility introduction service to help members and non-members alike procreate.  There are no financial benefits for us in doing so – we are simply responding to a demand for attractive donors.  Every parent would like their child to be blessed with many fine attributes, attractiveness being one of the most sought after.  For a site with members who resemble Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Angelina Jolie you can imagine the demand.” Since its creation in 2002, BeautifulPeople.com has become the world’s largest community of beautiful people with over 600,000 members from 190 countries.

Founder Robert Hintze added: “Initially, we hesitated to widen the offering to non-beautiful people.  But everyone – including ugly people – would like to bring good looking children in to the world, and we can’t be selfish with our attractive gene pool.”

In an attempt to explain this initiative, Jean Smith a cultural anthropologist said, “BeautifulPeople.com is doing what people are doing anyway, which is securing what they believe to be the highest level of genetic material they can, to ensure the best chance of success for their offspring. This service makes it easier for those who subscribe to the same ideal of beauty as those of ‘Beautiful People’ to find donors whom they perceive to supply appropriate genetic material.” As a testament to it’s success in helping attractive people meet, already, over 600 beautiful babies have been born to couples who met through the site, a fact which is attracting the attention of broody individuals and fertility clinics.

How the virtual sperm bank will work

The BeautifulPeople.com virtual sperm bank is a forum where members register and state their procreation interests.  A number of members already registered on the forum are married or in a relationship where for many reasons, an external donor is required.  Likewise, many men have been able to register to help infertile couples or single women to conceive healthy, attractive offspring.

There are many levels on which this virtual sperm bank can benefit the community.  As well as non-members, men and women within the BeautifulPeople.com community who are seeking more than romance or social interaction are able to use the forum as an additional facility where they are able to enter relationships, but with an upfront attitude to their family goals. Members wishing to donate will be able to access information on which clinics to contact and gather information on the donor protocol.

espite the seemingly conceited approach, there is a good side to this program. Dr Mohamed Menabawey, media director at The London Bridge Fertility, Gynecology and Genetics Center is positive about the BeautifulPeople.com donor service, “The removal of donor anonymity has created the massive UK shortage. The cost, confusion and damage of what many believe now to be failed anonymity legislation is there for all to see. It is manifested in the shortage of donor gametes and growing fertility tourism.”

BeautifulPeople.com member James Frederiksen is one of many singles who have used the fertility forum and expressed an interest in donating sperm. “I’m from Norway and it’s very common for young, healthy men there to donate sperm. There seems to be a shortage worldwide, being a BeautifulPeople.com member I wanted to do whatever I could to help others create beautiful babies.”

You may call this nepotism – we just adore ourselves too much that we just need in an extremely boastful way to flaunt it, or may be it’s just simple vanity – we can afford everything we want so why not a beautiful baby in tow as well, and lastly maybe we want to be like God and be able to control the physical attributes of our babies. Whatever reasons people may have for joining this program, it is best to remember that a baby’s entry into this world is a miracle by itself and that is enough reason to call all babies as beautiful!

I remain wholly sceptical of this initative and hope that others will be too. I think that it is misguided to select one aspect of beauty over another in this facile way.

Related articles:

• BeautifulPeople.com Launches Virtual Sperm Bank (newswire.ca)
• Dating Site Launches Online Sperm and Egg Bank for “Beautiful People” (mashable.com)
• BeautifulPeople Dating Website Now Selling Designer Sperm and Eggs [Dating Sites] (gizmodo.com)

Freezing a woman’s egg is not new.  But a new technology has been developed which dramatically increases a woman’s chances of having her own biological children well past the age of peak fertility. The new technology “flash freezes” a woman’s eggs until she’s ready to conceive, and yields significantly higher pregnancy rates over existing treatments. This technology is developed by Shady Grove Fertility, the nation’s largest fertility and IVF center. It recently announced the opening of its Center for Fertility Preservation, offering the most advanced technology in egg freezing.

“A woman’s ability to conceive is largely dependent on the age of her eggs,” said Robert Stillman, MD, Medical Director of Shady Grove Fertility Center. “Fertility is naturally declining with age, but the chances of getting pregnant drop off sharply after age 35. By the time she reaches her early 40′s there is only a very small chance of achieving a healthy, natural pregnancy and delivery.”

Until recently, older egg cryopreservation techniques were yielding unpredictable results and lower pregnancy rates. For this reason, they have been used primarily as a last resort for women with medical complications that compromise their fertility such as those at risk for premature menopause or those about to undergo cancer treatment. The unpredictable outcomes prevented most fertility centers from routinely offering the technology to women who wanted to proactively freeze and store their eggs for future use.

The Center for Fertility Preservation, along with a handful of other fertility centers across the U.S., is now able to offer a new, more successful egg freezing technique known as vitrification. Vitrification is a flash freezing technique which protects eggs from injury during the freezing and subsequent thawing process. The latest experience at Shady Grove Fertility and other leading groups consistently demonstrates dramatically improved pregnancy rates as compared to outcomes when using the now outdated, slow egg freezing methods.

“While not a guarantee, the ability to proactively freeze eggs at a younger age can greatly increase a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant with her own biological children well past the age of natural peak fertility,” noted Dr. Stillman.

There are roughly six million unmarried women in the U.S. between 30 and 39 years of age, many of whom are faced with a difficult personal dilemma: have children before they are ready, conceive through the use of donor eggs or run the risk of never having children at all. Fortunately, for those whose childbearing is delayed – for professional, personal, social or economic reasons – the Center for Fertility Preservation now empowers women with alternate choice to preserve their fertility. By making the choice to freeze her eggs during her fertile years a woman is able to help safeguard her fertility potential for future use when the circumstances and timing are right.

Related articles:

• Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago the Only Illinois Clinic Participating in National Study on Oocyte Vitrification (Ultra-Rapid Egg Freezing) (prweb.com)
• Fertility Check Educates Women About Infertility; IntegraMed Launches Interactive Assessment Tool (prweb.com)
• LifeQuest Centre for Reproductive Medicine Toronto to Offer Elective Egg Freezing for Fertility Preservation (newswire.ca)