New York to pay stem-cell egg donors

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 29 (UPI) -- Beginning next year, scientists in New York state can use taxpayer funds to pay women who donate their eggs for stem cell research, officials said.

Each egg donor will be paid up to $10,000 for her time, expense and discomfort, said Dr. David Hohn, a spokesman for the Empire State Stem Cell Board, established to oversee $600 million in public funding for stem cell research.

The policy should increase the availability of eggs, letting scientists pursue new avenues of research, Hohn told The Buffalo (N.Y.) News in a story published Monday.

The compensation policy is to be based on the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's guidelines for in vitro fertilization, with payments of more than $5,000 to a donor requiring justification before an oversight body at each research center, the News reported.

The new policy could make it easier to obtain eggs from donors with genetic disorders, said Mark Noble, director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute in Rochester, N.Y.

"Stem cell research offers the best shot we've ever had to find treatments for many of these disorders," Noble said.