Oocyte markets: women's reproductive work in embryonic stem cell research

Abstract

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) research, otherwise known as therapeutic cloning, requires large numbers of research oocytes, placing pressure on an already limited supply. In the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and most of Western Europe, oocytes are made available through modestly reimbursed donation, and, owing to the onerous nature of donation, the existing demand for reproductive oocytes far outstrips availability. SCNT research will place this system under even greater pressure. This paper investigates the growth in a global market for oocytes, where transnational IVF clinics broker sales between generally poor, female vendors and wealthy purchasers, beyond the borders of national regulation, and with little in the way of clinical or bioethical scrutiny. It considers the possible impact that SCNT research will have on this global market. It argues that oocyte vending could be understood as a kind of reproductive labor in the bioeconomy, and suggests some ways to improve the protection, security and power of vendors.

Keywords:

• Somatic cell nuclear transfer
• oocytes
• women's health
• globalization
• reproductive labor

Acknowledgements

This research is funded by an Economic and Social Research Council Stem Cell Initiative grant “The global biopolitics of human embryonic stem cells” RES-340-25-0001. Versions of this paper were given at the conference, Stem Cells: From Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine to Policy, Cambridge University, 19–21 April 2006 and the Cesagen Seminar, Cardiff University, UK 7 February 2006. The author would like to thank Donna Dickenson, Sarah Sexton, Melinda Cooper and Olivia Harvey for their valuable feedback and assistance with this research.

Notes

1. Therapeutic cloning is based on the technique developed to clone mammals – somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT. This involves the creating of an embryo not by the usual fusion of egg and sperm, but through the in vitro insertion of the nucleus of a cell from an adult's tissues into an oocyte. The oocyte has had its own nucleus removed to make way for the introduced nucleus. This creates an embryo with the genome of the adult from whom the nucleus was taken. Such an embryo could be used to develop embryonic stem cell lines with the genetic material of an adult donor, which could in turn be used to produce transplantable tissues genetically compatible with the donor.

2. Strictly speaking, this does not distinguish oocytes from other forms of donated tissue – virtually all tissues are in insufficient supply to meet demand, because demand is ever expanding, driven by new techniques and treatments. For more discussion see Waldby and Mitchell (2006).

3. In Australia and New Zealand for example, the number of both pregnancies and live births involving ART tripled between 1994 and 2003 (Waters et al. 2006).

4. At the time of writing, nobody has succeeded in using an oocyte to make an SCNT line in humans.

5. Sexton (2005), extrapolating from Hwang's figures, claims that almost half the young women in Britain would need to donate oocytes simply to treat those with diabetic conditions.

6. See for example commentary in the Observer (Campbell 2007).

7. Again there is nothing unique about global oocyte trading – it is driven by the same North–South relationship of privilege and poverty that drives the global trade in live kidneys and blood plasma. See Scheper-Hughes (2000) and Starr (1998).

8. www.nordica.org/composite-361.htm (accessed 27 February 2007).

9. Personal communication, 22 January 2007, Donna Dickenson.

10. According to Adam Balen, a British Professor of Reproductive Medicine, interviewed by the Observer (Barnett and Smith 2006).

11. European Parliament (2005).

12. Federal regulations seem unlikely given the US historical preference for decentralized, state-based regulation and professional autonomy and self-regulation. See Waldby and Mitchell (2006) for an extended treatment of the differences between West European and United States approaches to tissue regulation.

13. These can be found at Summaries of the Work of the Sixth Committee, the 58th General Assembly of the United Nations (2003).