Investigation into ova donation in Greek IVF sector

[nosleepuntilretirement]

Investigation: In the margins of Greece’s booming IVF industry, women trade their eggs and clinics gamble with ethics while the state looks the other way.

balkaninsight.com/2021/07/09/making-babies-pushing-boundaries-the-great-greek-fertility-market/

Awful article but not unsurprising it's an uncomfortable truth that unless you are using a sibling for egg donation a donated egg from a stranger is likely to have been procured either because the donor financially needed the money or because they are getting reduced cost of fertility treatment for themselves

Interesting article. I notice some of the practises the article implies are dangerous for the women are routinely offered as having no risk to women doing ivf with own eggs eg. No more than 5 rounds of IVF. Doing IVF reducing fertility. Being ‘dangerous’ to produce more than 10-15 eggs. My understanding was that 10-15 eggs indicates better quality eggs not that producing more is dangerous (OHSS aside). I would also wonder what the embryos would be from that. They mentioned if they girl in the article had done 5 rounds and produced around 10 eggs on each she could have 50 children but that implies 100% fertilisation and 100% normal blastocysts which seems wrong.

I know two people who have used donor eggs and both had 2 - 5 blastocysts and some didn’t lead to a love birth. I know people who’ve gotten >30 own eggs and ended up with one blastocyst.

I wonder if removing anonymous egg donation and better regulation (I.e central database of donors, home visits to check welfare) would resolve a lot of these issues.

@ForeverAintEnough3

I think that the "danger" element is constant cycling - I did 5 rounds in 18 months but the article suggests that these young women are cycling very quickly at n maximum doses to harvest as many as possible

The attitude of the woman who used donor eggs for her triplets is awful - she doesn't care how or where they were obtained so long as she got what she wanted

For me all egg donation unless it's by a sibling etc should be banned as I really don't think there is any way of stopping the cash for eggs trade otherwise

@ivfgottwins with respect, it’s very easy to say that it should be banned when IvF has worked for you and you have 3 children. I wonder if you’d done all your 5 rounds and more and been told you will never be a mother via your own eggs if your opinion would be the same. Of course it will also be very easy for you to say that it would be the same given you will never been in that position.

@ivfgottwins
I’m genuinely curious as to why you are you coming to an infertility board to express views egg donation should be banded?
A. Can’t you see this is quite hurtful to women who have no choice but to use DE!
B. Why are you not busy enjoying your beautiful twins and on other more relevant boards relating to parenting them?

I have to agree @GreyGoose1980

in my opinion, banning practice of ova donation by strangers would not solve anything and would more likely make things much worse. the demand will still be there, because plenty of people will still have a legitimate need of ova donated by strangers. but the market will be totally underground so there will be zero safeguard against type of exploitation shown in the story.

governments should create safe market that looks after best interests of both ova donors and recipients. don't ban the ova trade - just wake up to it, and regulate it so that everyone gets treated fairly!

I must admit I haven't read the whole article because it's very long. But I think I got the gist of it in relation to ethical issues with using eggs donated abroad.

I think donor eggs are absolutely fine and I'm really happy that this is an option, since I've watched my friend with a DOR go through hell to bank embryos, the hope is the ones that she has collected will work. But if not, I know it brings her a lot of comfort to know that DE are an option. I think the way the UK handles DE is very good, with a cap of £750, this seems the right amount to compensate women without there being a huge financial incentive. I'm also satisfied that UK clinics operate in a safe manner and wouldn't purposely overstimulate anyone.

On TikTok there is a video circulating where two girls are encouraging women to donate eggs saying how they can go on expensive holidays and buy designer bags through egg donation, I'd imagine the compensation is a lot higher in the USA and this feels wrong and has the potential to exploit young women who don't fully understand what they're getting into.

I think the view that DE should only be an option for those who know their donor is wrong. Where does that leave those without siblings etc and what if a potential mother doesn't want to know that their child is closely related to their relative?

I think there are definitely ethical considerations and I'm sure everyone wants donors to be treated fairly and for them not to be at risk. This may well come down to someone ensuring they research the clinic ahead of using DE from them when going abroad for treatment.

@Gardenlady543 I agree with everything you’ve said.

As someone who really struggles to get embryos I have also researched donor eggs and so far think I would go to Finland or U.K.
in Finland

• donors must have a social security number which removes issue in the article of trafficking women
• donors are all on a central registry and their personal information is given to any children at 18 so no anonymous donors and no issues with women donating too many times as in the article
• a maximum of 5 families from any sperm or egg donor so if 5 babies are born to 5 different families only those families can use any additional eggs from the donor removing the problem in the article of potential for 50 children born to one donor and (even though that figure is incorrect implying 100% fertilisation to 100% normal blastocysts with 100% implantation and live birth)
• egg donors receive €250 and may receive an additional €500 so €750 max and as monthly unemployment payment in Finland is circa €730 per month and available to those with a social security number (same group who can donate) there is little financial incentive.

Really that article shows Greece and other Eastern European countries need to really tighten up their egg donation practises.