In Romania, egg donation is not free. A woman who donates her eggs earns around 225 euros (£150), one month's wages in Romania. One clinic in Bucharest has as many donors as all the clinics in Britain put together.

This means that many infertile women from abroad go to Romania to receive egg donations. In the UK, there is an average 7-year wait for couples wishing to receive an egg donation. According to the BBC, every month, around ten women from the UK travel to Romania to receive treatment.  

To solve this egg shortage problem for infertile couples, the UK is currently envisaging paying women who donate their eggs up to 1,500 euros (£1,000).

Dr Stephen Wilkinson, an ethics specialist at the University of Keele, considers free egg "donation" to be "a difficult area of ethics". "On the one hand, people are benefiting from the money. But on the other, we do have this residual concern about exploitation and about inducing women to do something that's not in their best interests."

BBC (Gill Higgins) 23/12/04 

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), a British bioethics authority, has published a report on donating sperm, eggs and embryos. Issues raised by this report include payment of donors, importing gametes, adopting embryos and the development of ovarian hyperstimulation which, according to WHO, affects 1% of women who undergo ovarian stimulation treatment.

The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics has already published its own response to the HFEA report, in particular advising against payment for gamete, cell and tissue donation.

The American team of Su-Chun Zhang (University of Wisconsin-Madison) has succeeded in obtaining spinal cord motor neurons from human embryo stem cells. These motor neurons enable information from the brain to be transmitted to the spinal cord.

The researchers published their findings in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology*. They explained the difficulties they encountered in obtaining motor neurons from embryonic stem cells.

These neurons will not be able to be tested clinically for many years as the researchers will first need to test their behaviour on animals.

 Nouvelobs.com 31/01/05 - Le Figaro 01/02/05 - Le Quotidien du Médecin (Dr Véronique Nguyen) 04/02/04

On the eve of the 52nd World Lepers' Day on Sunday, a report from the Japanese Ministry of Health revealed that the Japanese authorities had forced lepers to abort or commit infanticide.

A 1907 law stipulating that lepers should be interned authorised sterilisation for men and abortion for interned women.  It was only repealed in 1996, after 89 years of enforcement. The remains of 114 foetuses and babies dating back to the 1924-1956 period were discovered in six public infirmaries, which could mean that there were far more in reality.

The report urges the government to carry out further enquiries as the authors have found numerous witnesses of infanticides and abortions. Parliament presented an official apology in 2001 and paid damages of more than 103,000 euros to each leper who was a victim of discrimination.

 Cyber Presse 31/01/05 -

Hillary Clinton's recent statements over abortion have caused a slight stir within the Democratic Party. She announced that she was in favour of parental notification should a female minor wish to have an abortion. However, this view is not in line with the Democratic Party's standpoint. When called upon to clarify her position, she acknowledged that it was her personal opinion, adding that she supported parental notification with the possibility for legal exceptions. 

Hillary Clinton finally declared that she supported current New York legislation. In this state, minors are not required to inform their parents but they are advised and informed of the risks.

Experts commented that like Hillary Clinton, other Democratic leaders had been changing their stance over the abortion issue.

 New York Times 28/01/05