There's an article in The Nation from November 2005 I'd encourage people to read on the issue of embryonic stem cell research. In Canada, where it can be government funded, they are not pursuing that avenue for ethical reasons.
The current situation in South Korea is emblematic of unresolved issues surrounding egg extraction wherever it is practiced. Some women's health advocates and public-interest groups have been raising concerns about the potential for exploitation of young or low-income women if researchers offer payments for eggs. Last April, a committee set up by the National Academies of Sciences agreed, and recommended that payments be limited to reimbursement for direct expenses like transportation and childcare.
Although egg extraction is widespread in the assisted reproduction field, it is not regulated in the United States because fertility clinics operate as private commercial ventures. For much the same reason, the risks this procedure poses for women have not been well studied or widely discussed--though it is well-known that serious adverse reactions can occur and that the drugs used for egg extraction have caused at least two deaths.
Egg extraction for research will take place in an environment of overheated expectations for medical breakthroughs, growing commercial and political pressures for early stem cell results and little oversight. Recognizing these dangers, California State Senators Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and George Runner (R-Lancaster) authored a bill that offered some protections for egg providers. It was passed by overwhelming majorities in both of the state's legislative chambers but was vetoed in October by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Until recently, all embryonic stem cells were produced from embryos created but not used during in vitro fertilization procedures. The World Stem Cell Foundation was set to focus instead on stem cells derived from embryos produced by research cloning or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). A number of countries with active stem cell research programs, including Canada, have decided not to pursue SCNT for now because of concerns about the well-being of women and the commodification of human eggs.
Many stem cell researchers have promoted SCNT, which involves merging adult cells with eggs whose nuclei have been removed, as a way to produce individually tailored therapies--a "personal biological repair kit," as Ronald Reagan Jr. described it in a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. But this approach to stem cell treatments would likely be very costly--a bill that Medicaid, and for that matter most health insurers, would not readily pick up. It would also require a vast number of women's eggs.
More modest scenarios envision SCNT as a way to produce stem cell models of specific genetic disorders for investigation and drug testing. Researchers have not publicly estimated how many eggs they would need for these purposes.
In order to provide eggs, women typically undergo hormonal treatments that first "shut down" and then "hyperstimulate" their ovaries. Surgical extraction of multiple eggs follows. This is a time-consuming and invasive process associated with potentially serious and occasionally life-threatening health problems. Estimates of the number of women taking fertility drugs who develop severe forms of a condition known as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) range from 1 percent to 10 percent; the wide variation is another sign that more study of OHSS is urgently needed. In rare cases, OHSS can be fatal.
In the UK, reports of two OHSS deaths have surfaced in the past six months. Twenty-nine-year-old Jackie Rushton died in June after undergoing hormonal treatment for in vitro fertilization. Her mother, Angela Hickey, told BBC News online, "Jackie was given a booklet that mentioned OHSS, but she thought it was so rare that she did not take much notice of it. Some people do not have any problems, and a percentage are very successful and have babies. But I would not want this to happen to anyone else."
If stem cell research of the sort that requires large numbers of women's eggs begins in the United States, will the absence of any regulation regarding egg provision put women's health in danger? Will women who provide the eggs be adequately informed about the risks to which they're agreeing? Will they receive medical care if they experience any adverse reactions? This is a particularly pressing question when OHSS develops, since it can often be reversed with prompt medical treatment.
And who would cover the costs? Will some egg donors suffering side effects delay seeking medical care, especially those who are uninsured or whose medical insurance doesn't cover experimental procedures? Unfortunately, this vital question has yet to be addressed by stem cell researchers, policy makers or media reports.
Women whose eggs are used for research are the first guinea pigs of scientists using human cloning techniques for stem cell research. The recent developments in South Korea illustrate dramatically that international ethics standards are insufficient for preventing misconduct, coercion and commercialization. In the United States, no regulation of stem cell research exists, allowing great potential for women to be exploited for their eggs. The focus in the United States on the moral status of embryos has simplified the complex issues of stem cell research and left women's health out of the debate. We need to look beyond the politics of embryos and focus attention on the well-being of women, conducting this important research with integrity.
And? Your point?
That there's an absence of government regulation in a science the government doesn't regulate?
That, like AIDS medication, Stem Cell treatment could potentially be costly and be an strain of poor wittle drug companies and HMOs?
That a hypothetical need for women's eggs is a real time problem?
Does this address the 400,000 existing embryos in American clinics?
Posted by: jaime | Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 08:44 PM