The fees for egg donors in the UK could be dramatically increased to as much £800 under proposals to tackle 
shortages in supply, it has been revealed.
Critics have blasted the proposed move. Josephine Quintavalle, from Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: “We would be absolutely outraged if the HFEA increases the payment limits above £250.
“It’s totally looking at the issue from the perspective of infertile couples who need eggs and will pay anything for them, and not from the perspective of the healthy woman they are trying to persuade to donate her eggs, and the risks she would incur by donating.”
The process of egg donation can carry significant risks [1] for women, such as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) which can cause severe pain, shortness of breath and decreased urination, and in some instances, blood clots, kidney problems and excessive fluid build-up in the chest or abdomen.
Presently, the maximum amount that donors receive is limited to £250 so as to avoid commercialising the procedure under Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) rules.
But it is believed that the low payment is behind a shortage in egg and sperm donation which is driving infertile women and men to other countries – 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.
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.