Writing in the Yale Daily News Divya Subrahmanyam points to high dollar offers for ideal egg donors.
“Ivy League Egg Donor Wanted.”
Sound familiar? From the News to the New Haven Register, this and similar ads for egg donors have appeared in the pages of local newspapers, attempting to lure intelligent Yale women with sums ranging from $5,000 to $100,000.
One Web site, offering $35,000 is looking for a “Genius Asian donor,” and describes the ideal match: “You should have or be working on a university degree from a world-class university, you should have high standardized test scores, and preferably have some outstanding achievements and awards.”
Another, EliteDonors.com seeks a donor who is Caucasian, “very attractive,” “height 5’9” or taller” and “athletic.” The ad claims to offer $100,000 as minimum compensation.
That $100,000 seems like a large sum of money for human eggs today. But suppose that choosing the right egg results in a smarter child with a responsible, calm, and motivated disposition. The boost in life time income could be many times that initial $100,000 investment.
The value from choosing "premium" eggs will soar as plummeting costs of DNA sequencing technologies bring about an explosion of discoveries about genetic variations for controlling intelligence and personality. The ability to choose between eggs based on detailed genetic profile of donors will greatly increase the probability of getting some desired genetic outcome.
The initial genetic screening of potential donors still doesn't control for the randomness of which portion of a person's DNA went into each egg. But that will become a solvable problem. Fertilization of multiple eggs and genetic testing of each embryo is already possible today. Once we know what thousands of genetic variations do to determine IQ, personality, physical attractiveness, and many other attributes screening of multiple embryos will become very desirable. At that point expect to see skyrocketing prices for donor eggs with the most desired attributes.
By Randall Parker at 2008 May 11 11:32 AM Bioethics Reproduction | TrackBackI'm very confused: why is going to an Ivy League college an indicator of intelligence? All that it means is that the student is more motivated to work hard. Many factory workers are more intelligent than students at these elite universities in my own experience here in the UK.
Will we still need to prep a woman with hormones, or will we be able to make the eggs to order in vitro? Donor eggs could go the way of horse insulin for diabetics.
Faruq Arshad,
Ivy League kids have way above average IQs. No, motivation alone isn't enough to get a person into an Ivy League.
c23,
The need to use hormones will go away because immature eggs will be able to be harvested from a woman's body. Then hormones will get applied to the eggs to mature them in vitro. I've reported about work in that area.
Also, the ability to turn adult cells into eggs in vitro will also be developed. Though that'll take longer to develop that capability.
But these technologies won't end the use of donor DNA.
I wonder how Copyright law (the closest analogy I can think of) would treat rights to your DNA sequence.
At some point we'll know how genetics works well enough to simply print off the best choices, but before then we'll know how to print off a known sequence. I can see how individuals (such as the ones advertised for in the post) might sell a limited use right (say one child) to their DNA sequence. They don't actually have to donate an egg, because we can make those in the lab. But during the era between being able to make new eggs and make bespoke children to order there will be a period where this might happen.
DNA at best is a derivative work, which means ones ancestors are the ultimate rights holders. And frankly, their patterns are probably in the public domain because they were published prior to the 1920's...
Synthetic eggs with computer-optimized DNA sounds like a good business opportunity.
Wal-Mart 2015 will offer two types of eggs:
Bench press max. > IQ = $19.95
IQ > bench press max. = $29.95
To make this more efficient, you need an artificial uterus. Eggs and sperm can be sorted by DNA, frozen, and stored. IVF can be automated to match sperm with egg to suit the client, then place the incubating embryo into the artificial uterus for gestation. An intelligent machine nanny/parent surrogate to care for the infant until it has a working vocabulary of 200 words or more would complete the process for many buyers. Some buyers may choose to wait until the child is post-adolescent before acceptance.
Blairsby, my favourity comment so far! You folks are far out there. where do you come up with this stuff?
David: IQ > bench press max? Will that be lbs or kg? I know a woman whose IQ is probably above Ivy Leaque average,
but who would fall to the cheap category. Even if you measure in kg...
David, even in kg I've got your "cheap" DNA right here, and my IQ isn't too shabby. I think you need a new pricing model.
Wow, bunch of comedians on this thread :)
I don't what kind of IQ is this?
New Study Predicts Success of In-Vitro Fertilization
Report Allows Women to Know Chances of Taking Home a Baby, of Taking Home Twins
Last update: 7:17 a.m. EDT July 17, 2008
CHICAGO, Jul 17, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- A method that is up to 80 percent accurate in determining whether a woman undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) will take home a baby has been developed by Dr. Christopher Jones, CEO of FORMYODDS.COM. The report will be submitted for publication later this month.
Based on 20 predictive variables, the model was tested using one of the world's largest IVF datasets comprising over 170,000 treatment cycles. "FORMYODDS.COM is such a breakthrough because it predicts the take-home baby rate using population-based data," Dr. Jones said.
What started as research has led to a website. For women or couples using FORMYODDS.COM, predictions come in the form of a simple report which all parties can discuss with their doctor. "Stated simply, if one hundred women with similar clinical characteristics underwent an IVF cycle using 1, 2 or 3 embryos, a certain number will give birth. Of those who give birth, a certain percentage will give birth to twins. Knowing these percentages can help with many planning aspects such as the timing of treatment," says Dr. Louis Keith.
Dr. Hamisu Salihu, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of South Florida, who confirmed the findings, said, "This is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for women contemplating IVF. The site predicts the take-home baby rate and multiple birth rate - two important rates to know."
What if today is not the right time for IVF? FORMYODDS.COM shows what will happen if the next IVF cycle is completed within one month, compared with next year, five years or after additional cycles of IVF. "Women need to know their chances under real scenarios," says Dr. Timothy R. B. Johnson, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan, and "FORMYODDS.COM pools all the variables together in a manner that is meaningful for the fertility doctor, cost-effective and immediately useful for counseling."
Dr. Jones cautions, "This is an aid to patients considering IVF but not a substitute for a medical diagnosis." Further information is available at www.formyodds.com.
SOURCE: FORMYODDS.COM
FORMYODDS.COM
Louis Keith, MD, PhD
(312) 909-5509
lkeith@formyodds.com