The HandsOff Newsletter features articles concerning policies, controversies, and ethics relevant to egg harvesting for cloning research and for fertility treatment, including articles reporting medical information learned from the IVF industry and those concerning global egg trafficking. The Newsletter also may include information about biotech patenting, animal-human hybrid creation (chimerism), stem cell research and reproductive cloning in so far as they may be relevant to considerations of research cloning and, therefore, egg extraction.

---

HANDSOFF ANNOUNCEMENT:

Happy New Year from HandsOff!,

As the year begins we are delighted to welcome Jennifer Schneider, M.D., Ph.D. to the HandsOffOurOvaries Board of Directors. Dr. Schneider is a physician certified in Internal Medicine, Addiction Medicine and Pain Management. She is the author of eight books and numerous articles in professional journals. Last fall she participated in a US Congressional briefing on the risks associated with egg harvesting. We are very happy to have Dr. Schneider join us in our efforts to secure more adequate informed consent and improve policy for young women donating and selling their eggs.

NEWS:

Cloned Human Embryo Created from Skin Cells.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2008) — Stemagen, a privately held embryonic stem cell research company, announced January 17 it has become the first in the world to create, and meticulously document, a cloned human embryo using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

HandsOff Editor's note: They claim to have used twenty-five eggs to produce five early stage (5 or more day-old) embryos. They further claim that these eggs were provided without compensation by “parents” undergoing fertility treatment.

For full story visit: ScienceDaily.com

Another article on the this topic:

Major Advancement Towards Creating Patient-Specific and Disease-Specific Stem Cells For Therapeutic Use:

reports the following concerning the eggs used for this “advance.” Note the defensive statement made by the IVF clinic attempting to thwart concern over the fact that its loyalties are now divided between the needs of the parents and the desire of cloning researchers for eggs.

'The oocytes used in this study were donated, without compensation, by egg donors and intended parents undergoing egg donation cycles for reproductive purposes at the Reproductive Sciences Center in La Jolla, a leading fertility center specializing in egg donation and other advanced assisted reproductive technologies. As important as stem cell research is, all of us involved in this study realized that our overriding responsibility was to the intended parents who entrusted us with their dream of having a child,” said Catharine Adams, Ph.D., a co-author on the paper and the laboratory director for Reproductive Sciences Center. “We in the IVF laboratory felt comfortable in this collaboration because we have consistently achieved pregnancy rates of greater than 80% from these types of high quality egg donors. In this study, all the intended parents were successful in achieving a pregnancy.'

For full story visit: Fibotrader.com TOP

HANDSOFF MESSAGE:

Tell us your Story

What was your experience with egg "donation"? Was it problem free? Have you experienced any of the following symptoms since donating?

Weight gain, Extreme PMS, Hemorraging, Hormonal imbalance, Migranes, Memory Loss, Ovarian cysts

Whatever your experience, we would appreciate hearing your story. If you know others who have undergone egg harvesting for fertility or research we would appreciate hearing their story, too. Contact us to talk