Just give us the eggs...women's health be damned

Facing a human egg shortage they say is preventing medical breakthroughs, scientists and biotech entrepreneurs are pushing the country's top funders of stem cell research to rethink rules that prohibit paying women for eggs.

The restrictions are necessary, supporters say, to avoid creating a market for human eggs that encourages women to risk their health for speculative science.

But researchers argue that a shortage of eggs fueled by the payment ban is what's kept them from making the advances that prove their technique's real potential.

"You need to have enough eggs to make this thing work, and when you have enough eggs it does work," said Dr. Sam Wood, chief executive of La Jolla-based Stemagen Corp.

"If these guidelines weren't in place, we'd already have many (stem cell) lines and be much closer to a treatment for devastating illnesses for which these are so well suited," Wood said.

Well, sign me up! If Dr. Wood is so convinced that my eggs can change the world. But wait, let us ask ourselves why Dr. Wood is so adamant that therapeutic cloning is the answer even though there is no data to support his claim. The California agency that doles out the 3 billion dollars in taxpayer money for stem cell research has denied all requests for funding of therapeutic cloning:

Last month, the California agency doled out $23 million in research grants but turned down all applications seeking funding for therapeutic cloning. Stemagen and at least one other biotech startup, Cascade Life Sciences Inc. of San Diego, were among the applicants whose proposals were denied.

A main reason cited for the refusals: no guarantee of enough eggs.

So Dr. Wood can't get taxpayer money without an abundant supply of eggs, but he can't get that without paying young women to put their health, their fertility and possibly their lives at risk. Therapeutic cloning to obtain human stem cells is barely a reality and Dr. Wood wants thousands of women to donate to the cause.

Dare I say it: The unmitigated arrogance of some people! Talk about treating women as objects. I think Dr. Wood may out-objectify the porn industry. I will leave you with Dr. Wood's most illuminating last words:

"Give us the eggs. If we don't succeed, then be critical," said Wood. "You have to give people the tools that are required to determine whether the methodology will work."