Results tagged “stemcellresearch”

New York taxpayers will soon become the first in the nation to pay women to donate their eggs for stem cell research. The plan was approved last month by the Empire State Stem Cell Board, which helps administer the state's $600 million allocation for 11 years of stem-cell studies. Starting next year, donors will be paid at least $5,000 and up to $10,000 for their eggs. And even women with health problems which would normally exclude them from egg donation will get a piece of the action because researchers want to study the genetics of various diseases. The process involves hormone injections, producing more eggs per cycle than would be considered normal and retrieval with anesthesia—all of which makes bioethicists like Debra Mathews uncomfortable. Mathews tells AP, "We don't really have good data on the risks. You're asking women to undergo this unknown risk for unknown benefit." But donors like Hanqi Miao know of one nice benefit; she's being paid $5,000 to donate her eggs at a fertility center and asks, "Who doesn't want money in your hand?"