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The UK fertility regulator is seeking to increase the amount of egg and sperm donation.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) says people should feel the same about it as they do about altruistic, or living, organ donation.

It is launching a new drive to encourage more donors to come forward to help infertile couples have a child. But critics say egg donation is an invasive process, and women should be warned of the risks.

Infertility affects about one-in-six couples in the UK, and when other fertility treatments fail, they sometimes turn to egg or sperm donors for help. But because of a shortage in donors in the UK, a number go abroad for treatment, sometimes to unregulated clinics.

The HFEA is trying to increase the number of national donors because of concerns about the safety of treatment abroad. Last year it agreed to increase the levels of compensation given to egg and sperm donors.

Now it is bringing together a group of experts to help develop ways of increasing awareness of gamete donation in the UK, and to encourage people to regard it as a positive contribution to society.

"Donating eggs to another woman is the most extraordinary gift," said HFEA chairwoman Lisa Jardine. The HFEA is also worried that some fertility clinics may discourage donors by making them wait and failing to return their phonecalls.

"It's important to make sure donors are really valued and looked after at clinics," said Laura Witjens of the National Gamete Donation Trust, which helps couples seeking egg or sperm donors.

The HFEA said it was going beyond its usual remit by bringing together a National Donation Strategy Group to look at how to raise awareness. But critics argue that donors should not be given more encouragement to come forward.

Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said egg retrieval was an invasive process that posed potential health risks. "It's one thing to incur risks for your own fertility treatment," she said, "quite another to be exposed to those risks for the benefit of other mothers."

Article: 5th April 2012 www.bbc.co.uk

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The payment to women donating their eggs for use in IVF will triple from £250 to £750 tomorrow. The extra money on offer is said to have led to five-fold increase in women approaching clinics to donate their eggs to infertile couples.

The recession will only further help fuel the rise in the number of women coming forward, campaigners claimed last night. Joyce Robbins of the Patient Concern group said: ‘For many women, £750 is worth having, especially if you are wondering how you are going to pay the mortgage.

‘Increasing these payments will tempt the hard up, but women should give it proper thought.’ Last October, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority decided that the compensation payment for women donating their eggs for IVF should be increased, bringing it into line with countries such as Spain.

Until now there has been a payment cap of £250 for egg donors per cycle of treatment. Under the change, egg donors will be given free treatment to retrieve the eggs plus a payment of £750 per cycle, no matter how many eggs are collected. As more women delay having children until their late 30s and 40s, demand for donor eggs is increasing.

A woman in her early 40s has less than a ten per cent chance of having a baby through IVF using her own eggs, compared with a 50 per cent chance using the eggs of a young woman.

Britain has a chronic shortage of egg donors, with some clinics reporting a four-year waiting list. Campaigns alerting women to the change in payment have prompted a significant rise in the number of potential donors.

CARE Fertility, which runs private IVF clinics across the country, said interest has increased five-fold, while Midland Fertility Services has seen a ‘noticeable increase’ and the National Gamete Donation Trust a doubling in inquiries.

Dr Simon Thornton, medical director at CARE Fertility, said clinics were ‘delighted with the response’ but added not all women who inquire will end up being donors.

He added: ‘Hopefully this change will reset the balance nationally so the requirement for donor eggs is going to match availability and waiting lists will come down.’ Dr Gillian Lockwood, of Midland Fertility Services, said: ‘Most women donate eggs because they have experienced infertility themselves or know someone who has.

‘The increase in compensation is recognition that donors go through a lot. There is extensive counselling and scrutiny, and the average donor cycle could involve six to eight visits to a clinic, daily injections, vaginal scans and some discomfort for the egg retrieval itself.

‘Early counselling sessions would quickly identify women who were doing it purely for the money.’ A law change in 2005 means any child born from donor eggs or sperm can trace their biological parent when they reach 18.

Article: 30th March www.dailymail.co.uk

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The HFEA is launching a public consultation about sperm and egg donation. The HFEA believes that the current level of remuneration – £250 per donation for "reasonable expenses" and loss of earnings may but deterring donors.

One in seven British couples have problems conceiving and the demand from infertile, single and gay couples for donated eggs and sperm is steadily rising.

The consultation will focus on three main areas of policy:

:The level of compensation for donors
:The number of families a donor can help to create
:Family donation

Prof Lisa Jardine, Chair of the HFEA said:

‘The donation of sperm and eggs is a generous act and donors have helped many thousands of people achieve their dream of having a child. We know that many people are facing long waiting lists at clinics because of a shortage of donors. We want to ensure that we have the best policies in place so that there are no unnecessary barriers in the way of those wishing to donate whilst protecting those who are born as a result of donation.’

Compensation for donors
Payment for donation is not allowed by law. It does, however, allow compensation for inconvenience, in addition to expenses and loss of earnings. Our current policy is designed to ensure that donors are not out of pocket by donating but that they do not gain financially from it. We currently allow donors to be compensated for expenses and loss of earning, but not for inconvenience.

Feedback from clinics, however, shows that not only do some donors end up out of pocket, but the system is more complex than it needs to be. We are therefore seeking views about whether clinics should offer a lump sum, rather than reimbursing for actual expenses.

Another question in the consultation is whether the HFEA should introduce compensation for inconvenience, as some other European countries do. This move may remove a barrier to donation, but we have to be careful that it does not create a financial incentive to donate. Other countries have different schemes in place. For example, in Denmark, sperm donors receive 50–150 Euros (£45-£135) for the examination, use of their time and travel expenses. In Spain, egg donors are compensated 900 Euros (around £765) whereas sperm donors are compensated 45 Euros (around £40) per valid sample they produce. This is a blanket fee for loss of earnings, expenses and inconvenience.

Another key question for the consultation is issue of egg sharing, where patients donate their eggs in return for a reduction in the cost of their treatment.

The number of families a donor can help to create
The HFEA set a limit on the number of families one donor’s eggs or sperm can be used to help create. The current limit is ten families. This limit minimises the possibility of two children from the same donor having a relationship with each other without knowing they are genetically related. It also addresses the perceived needs of donor conceived people and their parents in maintaining a relatively small number of siblings.

The HFEA are seeking views on what the family limit should be, to ensure the right balance is struck between increasing the availability of donated eggs and sperm and protecting the interests of donors and donor-conceived people.

Family donation
Family donation includes many different types of donation relationships, some more common than others. Donation between sisters, cousins and brothers are the most common donation relationship. The HFEA have also had reports of mother to daughter, daughter to mother, father to son and son to father.

Receiving sperm or eggs from a family member is an attractive option for some as it maintains a genetic link between the recipient and any child born as a result. It can also avoid long waiting lists at fertility clinics.

Donation of this kind can, however, raise some social and ethical issues such as unusual genetic and social relationships. For example, if a woman donates an egg to her sister she will be the genetic mother and social aunt of any child born as a result.

There are a number of options for regulation of family donation including a ban on the mixing of sperm and eggs between close genetic relatives (those who would otherwise be banned from having sex with each other) or only ban the mixing of sperm and eggs between genetic relatives.

The HFEA could also issue additional best practice guidance to clinics or ask them to have a strategy in place to handle cases of family donation.

How to participate
People can share their views through a series of questionnaires on the consultation pages of the HFEA's website. They will also be holding a series of workshops with patients, donors, parents of donors conceived people, as well as those who are donor conceived. The HFEA will also be consulting with clinics.

The HFEA wish to hear a wide range of views both from those directly affected and those who are interested in the issues. The consultation ends on April 17 and decisions will be made at the Authority meeting in July.

To take part and have your say, follow this link www.hfea.gov.uk

To read more about gay parenting, sperm and egg donation visit www.prideangel.com

Currently the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) imposes a £250 cap on payments so as to avoid commercialising the procedure.

But the low payment is thought to be behind a shortage in egg and sperm donation which is driving infertile women and men to overseas – often unregulated – clinics, according to research.

Now the HFEA is considering adopting the Spanish system which would see the payment cap lifted to £800.

"We want to review egg donation," Professor Lisa Jardine, the chair of the HFEA told the Sunday Times.

"We are suggesting moving closer to the Spanish system. But there is no suggestion of adopting the US model where a good-looking girl with a degree can get $30,000 (£19,000) for her eggs."

A report will go to the HFEA's executive next month, setting out the proposed higher payments.

It will then be put out to public consultation.

Fertility clinics are barred from offering straight payments for egg or sperm donation.

Even though egg donors can face invasive procedures and some health risks, they are entitled to a maximum "compensation"of only £250 for loss of earnings, plus expenses.

There are fears that raising the payments could commercialise egg and sperm harvesting, undermining the principle of donation on which the current system is based.

Anthony Rutherford, a consultant at the NHS Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine and chairman of the British Fertility Society, said: "Women who donate eggs have to undergo consultations, medical investigations, a course of injections and a small operation.

"That is a lot to go through and £250 is not enough. However, there is a balance to be struck. If you allow payments that are too high then the principle of donation is lost."

Estimates of the number of British women travelling abroad for fertility treatment range from the high hundreds to the low thousands.

The main destinations include Spain, the Czech Republic and America. Others stay in Britain and reach private agreements with egg donors, thus avoiding official scrutiny.

The HFEA says it has reports of women being given £20,000 cars or having their credit card debts paid off.

One in six couples suffer from infertility problems in Britain. About 37,000 women underwent in-vitro fertilisation treatment here last year. About 2,000 babies are born in Britain each year using donated sperm, eggs or embryos.

The number of women registered as egg donors has risen slightly from 946 in 1998 to 1,150 now. The real problem is that the number of women wanting fertility treatment has risen much faster than this.

Read more about egg donation and the HFEA

A businesswoman has put her eggs up for sale on the internet to help repay her student loans.

Marje Khan posted her details on the classified ads website Gumtree and hopes a couple will pay her £4,500 for the donation. The 28-year-old accounts manager came up with the idea after reading in a magazine how much donors can earn.

She did not realise that in Britain it is illegal to be paid for donating eggs. The procedure can also be life-threatening for the woman and risks leaving her infertile.

But critics claim advertising eggs for sale is becoming more widespread despite the regulations, as the internet is too hard to regulate. They are concerned many are exploiting a loophole which states that egg donors are allowed to claim 'reasonable' expenses - but a reasonable amount is not stipulated in law.

Miss Khan, from South-West London, earns £40,000 a year but ran up her debts after studying for degrees in marketing and economics. She was born in Sweden and grew up in Stockholm. Her father was an interior designer father and her mother a teacher.

She came to Britain ten years ago to learn English and to study at Brunel University in West London. But although her parents helped pay some of her fees, after five years of studying she has £50,000 of student loans of pay off.

'I know some people won't agree with what I am doing but this seemed to be a good way of earning some money whilst at the same time helping a couple who otherwise wouldn't have a child,' she said.

'Whilst I earn a good salary, by the time I've paid my rent, food and the monthly loan repayments, there is hardly any money left. 'At some point in the future I might want to buy a house so it's become very important that I pay down this debt as soon as possible.'

Miss Khan said the price she is asking is fair and chose Gumtree - better known for finding domestic cleaners - because she had seen another woman advertising on it.

Until the Daily Mail pointed it out, she had no idea she was doing anything illegal.

'I placed my ad without any problem,' she said. 'So I am shocked to be told it is illegal to sell your eggs in the UK especially as it was clear from the magazine article many young women in the UK are doing the same thing.'

Eggs for sale: It is illegal to be paid for donating eggs in Britain Her ad, which was free to place, has been viewed around 50 times but so far she has not had an approach from a couple.

Miss Khan, who is single, admits she is nervous at the prospect of donating. The procedure involves daily injections of potent hormones for up to two weeks to stimulate her ovaries into producing a vast number of eggs. These are then harvested in an operation at a clinic.

'When I told my parents and my three sisters about my plans, they were horrified,' she said. 'They are worried that not only is egg donation a potentially risky procedure but that I will regret it later in life.'

But Miss Khan said she is confident that the risks are small. Nor is she worried about someone else raising her biological child - and insisted she would be happy for the child to contact her at the age of 18.

Josephine Quintavalle, of the pressure group Comment on Reproductive-Ethics, said: 'Most women and UK classified websites seem totally unaware that advertising eggs for sale in the UK is breaking the law, especially as in countries such as the U.S. selling eggs is legal.'

COULD RULES BE CHANGED?

Rules forbidding payment to women who donate eggs could be relaxed after criticism that the restrictions are unworkable and penalise donors.

At present women can be paid expenses, but many doctors believe the payments fail to reward them properly for the risk involved.

The fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, is reviewing its policy after conceding that a chronic shortage of eggs means many couples have to go abroad in their quest for a family.

Article: 4th May 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk

Read more about becoming an egg donor