Professor Ikemoto Comments on Human Egg Cell Sales for Los Angeles Times
Professor Lisa Ikemoto commented for the Los Angeles Times on the booming market for human gametes. Although it is illegal to sell human body parts, human egg cells are sometimes sold to infertile couples on the open market for as much as $20,000, with the highest prices often going to the most in-demand ethnicities, the Times reports.
Professor Ikemoto said there is nothing illegal about offering higher prices to get donors of certain ethnicities. "There is an absence of regulation in pricing eggs, so it's not illegal to pay more depending on a women's race and ethnicity, where she went to school, what her SAT score is," Ikemoto said. "When you look at pricing practices, the eggs themselves are treated like commodities, with more valuable traits receiving higher compensation."
Lisa Ikemoto teaches bioethics and health law courses at the UC Davis School of Law. She has written extensively on genetic and reproductive technology, the regulation of fertility and pregnancy, and race and gender disparities in health care. Her current work examines emerging issues in regenerative medicine, including stem cell research, and the human tissues market.