Egg Banks, Intermediaries and Donor Introduction Websites: Mapping New Agents in the European Bioeconomy

• In Event: The New Bioeconomy in Eggs: Innovations, Interruptions and Regenerations in the Management of Human Oocytes

Abstract

Whilst there is growing scholarship that explores the recruitment of egg providers and the brokerage of their eggs, much of this work still comes from the US where it is argued that the market shapes practice. Within the European context, recruitment of egg providers has traditionally been managed by fertility clinics and is subject to a common regulatory framework, which makes clear the need to ensure that principles of voluntary and unpaid donation (VUD) are upheld throughout. More recently, a range of intermediaries has begun to emerge in the European context, giving rise to a more diverse and increasingly commercialised geography of egg provision. Egg banks, egg donor agencies and online connection services are beginning to proliferate and to offer new forms of mediation between egg providers, clinics and egg recipients. Since these intermediaries often operate outside the medical field, they pose pressing questions related to their governance and oversight.

In this paper we consider these developments in the European context and explore the new configurations of mediation and exchange they represent. Taking three national case studies – the UK, Spain and Belgium – we examine how the traditional link between donor and recipient that underpins most of the existing national regulations in Europe, is being disrupted. Drawing on extensive policy mapping, online marketing analysis and interview data from a large scale, comparative study, we illustrate how these developments have implications for the regulation of such organisations and for the commercialisation of human eggs.

Author

• Nicky Hudson, De Montfort University