by Nicole Veash
Sunday August 15, 1999
British couples desperate for a family are spending tens of thousands of pounds on perfect babies-to-order, The Observer has discovered. Faced with two-year waiting lists in the UK, they are selecting their ideal offspring from advertisements on the Internet and travelling to the United States for treatment.
The business is attracting those who fear that a shortage of egg donors in this country may force them to remain childless.
Sam Abdalla, director of Britain's largest IVF unit, at the Lister Hospital in London, said: 'There is an imbalance between supply and demand. For those getting on in age a two-year waiting list is a very long time. We have seen a number of couples go directly to the US for treatment because the whole procedure there takes around three months.'
Fertility experts believe that the number of Britons using US facilities will rise dramatically because the Internet has made information on donors so accessible.
Parents are choosing the genes they want their child to inherit. From detailed donor profiles, which include a photograph of the donor, her education, ethnic background, weight, height, hair colour and athletic achievement - and much else - they choose what they believe to be the ideal set of genes.
An Indian couple asked a clinic for an egg from a Caucasian mother; a dark-skinned woman asked specifically for a tall Nordic donor.
The sale of eggs is big business in America. While the British system a donor to be paid only £15 plus expenses, market economics operates in America and genes in demand can fetch high prices.
In Britain, couples seeking donor egg treatment have to abide by strict guidelines when choosing the appropriate donor. Doctors insist that the donor must be close to the would-be parents own genetic backgrounds. As far as possible, they match religion and ethnic make-up. If the couple ask for a donor very different from themselves, most doctors will question whether they will make suitable parents.
In the US, agencies advertise for eggs in student newspapers at Ivy League univer sities. Up to $50,000 is offered for supposedly top-drawer characteristics, including height, blond hair and intellectual aptitude.
Although most US egg donor agencies ask for a registration fee before couples can access their data bank, some advertise directly on the Internet. One, Families 2000, has a series of soft-focus photographs of its donors on the web. Miki, a 26-year-old Californian of Japanese descent, is a divorced Christian with a son of her own. She has been a donor four times, resulting in three pregnancies and two sets of twins.
Because, unlike sperm, eggs cannot be frozen, the donation procedure is complicated. During ovulation most women produce a single mature egg, but donors are given drugs to produce more.
The process does not deplete the donor's reserves but it can be painful and sometimes leads to hyper-stimulation and, in rare cases, a stroke. Once the eggs have reached maturity they are collected by a small hollow needle inserted through the bladder or a cut under the navel. Most women donate eggs no more than five times because of the health risks.
James Yeandel, of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said: 'The procedure in Britain is a lot more standardised than the unregulated American system. There, people seem to be donating for money rather than because they are motivated by altruism.
'In this country we have a £15 limit because we don't believe egg donation should be subject to the same whims as any other product in the market place.
'Patients are given information on donors but it is up to the clinic to match the right egg to the right couple.'
Mary Sidebotham, of the National Egg and Embryo Donation Society, said: 'The number of people searching the Internet for egg donors is alarming.but I think the cost will be prohibitive for most British couples.'
The 68 licensed clinics in Britain charge about £3,000 per cycle, but couples can expect to pay at least three times that in the US. In 1997, 800 British patients used donated eggs, with a successful-pregnancy rate of about 17 per cent.
Peter Wardel, honorary secretary of the British Fertility Society, said: 'The risks of going abroad for egg donation are great because there is no regulatory body to oversee high standards of care, and I would advise people to think very carefully before choosing this option.'
