Egg harvesting is needed to clone embryos for experimentation

Egg harvesting is a necessary process for scientists to engage in cloning. SCNT (Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer), or cloning, can only be done if scientists have access to human eggs. Women are subjected to large amounts of hormones and invasive extraction procedures that can threaten their life, health and future fertility—all for the sake of research!

Every true feminist should be up in arms at the prospect of women being exploited for science, many being offered large sums of money so that new human lives can be created and then destroyed for research material!

Here are some of the important facts you need to know to understand why this procedure is just one more step down the slippery slope of devaluing human life. 

How egg harvesting works.

• The average woman only produces one egg a month. In order to maximize the efficiency of collecting eggs, female donors go through a process called hyper-ovarian stimulation.
• Hyper-ovarian stimulation is a painful procedure in which a woman is required to take large doses of hormones over a month.
• The hormones over-stimulate her ovaries into producing approximately 10-12 eggs.
• The eggs are extracted by a long needle.
• The gathered eggs are then used for IVF or therapeutic cloning.  

The dangerous effects of egg harvesting on women’s health and future fertility.

• Hyper-ovarian stimulation can result in many negative side effects, most especially a condition known as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). OHSS can result in ovarian cysts, massive fluid build-up and abdominal pain, infertility and in some cases even death.
• Studies in Italy and the U.K. suggest that at least 1 in 10 women suffer from some form of OHSS.
• The typical drug used to stimulate egg development, Lupron, is only approved by the FDA for use in prostrate cancer, NOT egg extraction!
• Females are born with a limited number of eggs. Young people often don’t think about the long term affects of their actions, particularly if they are being offered large sums of money, as young women are in egg donation.
  

Scientists need millions of eggs for even the most basic research.

• Average estimates suggest that at least 100 human eggs are needed to create just one stem cell line. That means at least ten women must step forward to create even one line. If we are engaging in cloning to create genetically matched stem cell lines, the number of eggs necessary is astronomical.
• There are about 17 million Americans with diabetes. It has been estimated that 170 million-1.7 billion human eggs would be necessary to treat them all with their own genetically matched cells.
• This means that 17 million-170 million women would need to donate their eggs. Keep in mind that these eggs would only be used to treat diabetes, and only in the United States!
• There are only about 60 million women of child bearing age in the US. Not all of those women will donate their eggs. It is very clear that there are not enough human eggs!  

Young women are being exploited for their eggs.

• Young women are already being exploited for their eggs by the IVF industry which tries to offer infertile couples access to the "perfect" egg donor for their IVF treatments. Just type in 'egg donors' on the internet and you will come up with a number of websites that advertise egg donors of a particular age, race, intelligence and appearance. Pictures, SAT scores and athletic abilities of donors are also available to prospective egg recipients.
• The average price women are paid for their eggs vary. A typical first time donor can receive as little as $4,000 to as much as $80,000 or more, depending on the types of characteristics the donor couple is seeking.
• Advertisements flood college campuses promising large sums of money to students for the eggs. Human eggs gathered from women between the ages of 18-25 are the healthiest and most efficient eggs to work with.

There are not enough women stepping forward to donate their eggs.

• With so many grave risks to egg donors, it isn’t surprising that despite the large sums of money being offered, many women are not stepping forward to donate their eggs for science.
• Harvard University publicized a new project to advance therapeutic cloning and began to solicit egg donors in 2006. Just a year later, they announced that their studies had been derailed by the lack of female egg donors. This is just one of many examples of the shortage of egg donors. But that hasn’t stopped pro-ESCR researchers.  

Part human/part animal creatures.

• In Great Britain the lack of human egg donors has become a national issue. On September 5, 2007, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates the creation of human embryos in Britain, issued a statement allowing the creation of animal/human hybrids, also known as chimeras.
• Rabbit, cow and goat eggs are now being used to create embryos that are 99% human, 1% animal.
• There are already many different projects underway to great genetically matched chimeras as a source for tissue transplants.
• In 2005 a scientist in Reno, Nevada created a flock of sheep with 15% human DNA. 
• Scientists in California have created mice with human brain cells.
• The Vacanti mouse was created back in 1997 to determine if human tissue could be regenerated in animals. This mouse grew a human ear on its back.