1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 2: In early twenty twenty, after a long struggle to get pregnant, 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 2: Maria and her husband started IVF, but Maria still considered 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 2: herself lucky. 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: She lives on the island of Crete in the town 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: called Hanya, where, much to her good fortune, one of 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: the most prominent fertility clinics had been set up a 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: couple decades earlier. 9 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 2: That's Vernon Silver. He's an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, and 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 2: he traveled from his home base in Rome to Greece 11 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 2: to report this story. Maria is a pseudonym. She asked 12 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 2: us not to use her real name and didn't want 13 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 2: to be recorded. Her hometown of Hanya is a seaside 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 2: tourist destination with a close knit community famous for its 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 2: centuries old harbor. The clinic where Maria went is about 16 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 2: a ten minute walk from that harbor, called the Mediterranean 17 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 2: Fertility Institute, and it drew customers from all over the world. 18 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: In recent years, it had become a hub for customers 19 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: from Italy, or Australia or the US. So right there 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: in her backyard was a clinic that could provide exactly 21 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: what she and her husband needed to try to have 22 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: this baby. 23 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 2: It all seemed pretty standard. The clinic did a procedure 24 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 2: to retrieve Maria's eggs. Staff fertilized them with her husband's 25 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 2: sperm and implanted an embryo. She told Vernon it took 26 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 2: three cycles of IVF, but finally it worked. 27 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: She eventually did get pregnant and she had a child. 28 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: Her dream had come true. 29 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 2: Maria became a mother and for the next three years 30 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 2: she raised her baby, who grew into a toddler. Then, 31 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 2: one day in February twenty twenty four, she got a 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 2: call from the police. 33 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: The police asker had come down to the police station 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: and she walked into the room and there were two 35 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: police officers and a third person who was a psychologist. 36 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: And when Maria saw the psychologist, her heart sunk. She knew, 37 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: she knew she was about to get bad news. They 38 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: sat her down, The four of them sat around a desk, 39 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: and they broke the news to her that their investigation 40 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: had found that her eggs had been stolen. 41 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 2: Stolen. She didn't donate them or sell them. She initially 42 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 2: didn't even know they'd been taken from her. 43 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: When she had had her eggs harvested to make her 44 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: own child. People at this clinic, according to the police, 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: had secretly taken about half of those eggs and given 46 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: them to another woman. 47 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 2: This is episode two of The Human Egg Trade, a 48 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 2: special series from Bloomberg's investigations team and The Big Take 49 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 2: podcast about the booming global market for human eggs. Bloomberg 50 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 2: reporters across five continents and eleven countries have spent the 51 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 2: last year trying to understand how human eggs are bought 52 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 2: and sold around the world. They've shed light on the 53 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 2: thirty five billion dollar market for assisted reproduction, an opaque 54 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 2: market where regulations vary widely from country to country. It's 55 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 2: a patchwork that can push some people to travel great 56 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 2: distances in their quest for a child, and can also 57 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 2: create opportunities for bad actors looking for a cut of 58 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 2: the trade. Today we zoom in on one clinic in 59 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 2: Greece where police have identified as many as seventy five 60 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 2: cases of egg theft. Seventy five cases where a woman's 61 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 2: eggs were allegedly taken without her consent and sold or 62 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 2: donated to another person. It's a story that shows how 63 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 2: the actions of one clinic can have ripple effects around 64 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 2: the world that can reverberate for decades, and it reveals 65 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 2: the unique ways that the fertility industry runs not only 66 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 2: on capital, but on trust. Will continue after the break 67 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 2: After a year of digging into the fertility industry, Bloomberg's 68 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 2: Vernon Silver says, the trade of human eggs behaves much 69 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 2: like the trade of any commodity. 70 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: Like any global commodity trade, where you ship things, where 71 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: you invest, where you go for the best deal, depends 72 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: on regulations and prices, and it's kind of like squeezing 73 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: a water balloon, where if there's pressure at one place, 74 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: you know everybody's going to go somewhere else. 75 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 2: In recent years, as other fertility hotspots like India and 76 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 2: Thailand tighten their regulations, and after Russia began its full 77 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 2: scale invasion of Ukraine, Vernon says, some of that trade 78 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:09,679 Speaker 2: shifted to Greece. If you're a couple or a person 79 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 2: needing a fertility treatment, what is the pitch that Greece 80 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 2: gives to them. 81 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: Greece has positioned itself, along with other countries that have 82 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,719 Speaker 1: nice beaches, as a location for medical tourism, which applies 83 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: to fertility treatments. When it comes to eggs and the 84 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: other services like surrogacy an IVF its prices are lower 85 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: than in the United States, for example, in other Western countries. 86 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 2: The country's legal framework is another selling point. 87 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: There are a lot of restrictions in a lot of 88 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: countries that make it harder to do IVF or to 89 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: get a donor egg in a country like Italy, for example, 90 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: or Australia, and those restrictions are much less in Greece. 91 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 1: So it's a combination of legal framework, money access and 92 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: a friendly accepting economy based really from the government that 93 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: wants to promote this sort of thing. 94 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 2: And nice beaches and nice. 95 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: Beaches, I mean. Part of what happens when you are 96 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,919 Speaker 1: seeking a fertility treatment, especially if it involves you know, 97 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: a donor egg, is somebody will travel, let's say, with 98 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: her husband to Greece, go to the clinic. The husband 99 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: will provide a sperm sample that will be used to 100 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: fertilize the donor egg. They wait around on the beach 101 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: in a nice hotel, have a good meal while the 102 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: wife is being prepared to have this growing embryo implanted 103 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: in her. And so it's always good to have a 104 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: nice place to do this. That's pleasant and hang out 105 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: and cost effective. 106 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 2: Vernon says Greece's fertility industry has another geographic advantage, proximity 107 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 2: to Eastern Europe. 108 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: Borders on poorer Eastern European countries, where there are women 109 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: who might want to be paid for their eggs and 110 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: also to be surrogates, which is a related industry in 111 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 1: the fertility industry. 112 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 2: Women from countries like Georgia and Bulgaria, who Vernon says, 113 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 2: are often motivated to sell their eggs because it pays 114 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 2: more than many other kinds of work. But that dynamic 115 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 2: has created opportunities for abuse. 116 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: Going back a decade, there had been a series of 117 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: busts by the Greek authorities, mostly in the northern city 118 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: of Thessaloniki, where they had tried to crack down on 119 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: people being pressured or manipulated or trafficked into giving up 120 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: their eggs. And so while Greece is not the biggest 121 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: market for eggs, you have Ukraine, you have Spain, which 122 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: are sort of massive hubs for egg banks, and that 123 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: sort of thing. You had some of the worst behavior 124 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: already being exposed in Greece. 125 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 2: The clinic where Maria went, the Mediterranean Fertility Institute had 126 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 2: been on the radar of Greek regulators for years. In 127 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, the Greek agency overseeing medically assisted reproduction sent 128 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 2: a team of inspectors to the clinic to look into 129 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 2: a complaint about its surrogacy program. The team ultimately voted 130 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 2: to suspend the clinic's license for improper record keeping, but 131 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 2: the suspension went unenforced and the clinic remained open. It 132 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 2: would take another four years before Greek authorities were once 133 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 2: again at its door. 134 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: A few months before the police invited Mario over to 135 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: break her the bad news about her own eggs. There 136 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: had been a bust and this had to do with 137 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: surrogacy and other issues, not egg theft yet, and because 138 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: of that bust, the clinic shutdown. 139 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 2: The police told Vernon they were once again looking into 140 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,679 Speaker 2: the clinic surrogacy practices, but once they got inside, they 141 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 2: found evidence of other kinds of crime. 142 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: What the police had found in their investigation of this 143 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: clinic was that there were these handwritten records that showed 144 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: on a certain day, an IVF patient like Maria would 145 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: have her eggs removed and they would say how many 146 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: there were, and on that same day, about half that 147 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: many showed up in these handwritten records as being donations 148 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: to another woman of fresh eggs, meaning non frozen eggs, 149 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: eggs that had been extracted that day, and if that 150 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: woman had been the only person who had come in 151 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: to get her eggs removed, the police were fairly confident 152 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: that they could conclude that that exact match. For example, 153 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: twelve eggs removed from patient A and then six given 154 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 1: as a donation to patient B, and six made use 155 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: of by patient A the original one. That all added 156 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: up to them literally siphoning off half of the eggs 157 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: for somebody else. 158 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 2: The police also found that the clinic had a consent 159 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 2: for him with a box that patients could check if 160 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 2: they were willing to donate some of their unused embryos 161 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 2: eggs that were successfully fertilized. And when the police sat 162 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 2: down with Maria, they really wanted to ask her about 163 00:09:58,920 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 2: that piece of paper. 164 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: What they wanted to know from Maria was had she 165 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: consented to this quote. 166 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:08,679 Speaker 2: Donation and had she She. 167 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: Said she definitely did not. In fact, she remembered the 168 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: consent form that she signed, and she said, you know, 169 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: this consent form had a box to tick about donating 170 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: any unused embryos which she did not tick, and nothing 171 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: about donating any excess eggs, and so at that point, 172 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: as it would turn out that she was one of 173 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: scores of women who were getting similar calls with the 174 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: police telling them the same thing and wanting to know 175 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: the same basic question, did you consent to this? Because 176 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: the records we have found showed that half of your 177 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: eggs went to somebody else. 178 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 2: If you're a woman in Maria's position leaving the clinic 179 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 2: that day and the police never call you, how would 180 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 2: you ever know that your eggs had been stolen? 181 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: You would never know. Possibly you could know later on 182 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 1: if somebody did a twenty three and me test, or 183 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: if you walk down the street and saw someone who 184 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: looked a lot like your own kid. I mean, there 185 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: are ways conceivably to find out. 186 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 2: A DNA test, a gut feeling, but in the moment, 187 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 2: it's impossible to know. That's because a woman undergoing an 188 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 2: egg retrievle is typically given anesthesia. It's only after she 189 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:29,560 Speaker 2: comes to that she's told exactly how many eggs were collected. 190 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: But the really haunting aspect of all of this is 191 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: that if the police hadn't been doing an investigation of 192 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: this clinic, which they were doing for other reasons. If 193 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: that hadn't happened, she likely would never have been called 194 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: to the police station and been told this information, and she. 195 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 2: Might never know when we come back, what happened to 196 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 2: the eggs and embryos stored at the Mediterranean Fertility Institute 197 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:56,319 Speaker 2: when it suddenly shut down, and what the fallout of 198 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 2: the investigation has meant for the women whose eggs were stolen. 199 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 2: Earlier this year, Bloomberg's Vernon Silver went to visit a 200 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 2: secure room at Kanya General Hospital on the Greek island 201 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 2: of Crete. He was there to see the genetic material 202 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 2: that authorities had seized from the Mediterranean Fertility Institute without sansos. 203 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 3: Is it top secret? Can I take a picture? 204 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 1: Yes? 205 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 2: A doctor punched a passcode into a keypad and unlocked 206 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 2: the door to the climate controlled room. 207 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 3: It's nice and cold, nice and cold, of course. 208 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 2: Inside, they showed Vernon the six rounded metal containers that 209 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 2: were lined up against a wall. 210 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 3: It looks like R two D two from Star Wars. 211 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 2: The canisters looked like a cross between an ancient Greek 212 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 2: amphora and a propane tank. Rounded metal containers with wheels 213 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 2: on the bottom and two handles on top. The lids 214 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 2: were fitted with handwritten labels and temperature monitors. 215 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 3: In these things here they so this is an expensive 216 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 3: operation because you also have this thing that goes down. 217 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:17,959 Speaker 3: What is that? That's the ice. 218 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 2: The canisters were filled with liquid nitrogen and between the 219 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 2: six of them all the genetic material that had been 220 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 2: seized from the Mediterranean Fertility Institute. In total, they contained 221 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 2: the eggs, embryos, and sperm of about nine hundred people. 222 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,599 Speaker 2: But Vernon says the canisters represent only part of the 223 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 2: chaos that ensued from the clinic's closure. 224 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: Really heartbreaking chaos, because this is a clinic that had 225 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 1: stored embryos and eggs and hired surrogates to carry people's 226 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: babies for them. So they were dealing with everything from 227 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: frozen eggs and embryos to pregnant women to babies who 228 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,440 Speaker 1: had to literally be sorted out with DNA tests. 229 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 2: In the early morning hours of August eighth, twenty twenty three, 230 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 2: when police descended on the Mediterranean Fertility Institute, the clinic 231 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 2: was working with a number of pregnant surrogates, and after 232 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 2: it was abruptly shut down, the Kanya General hospital took 233 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,280 Speaker 2: over their care and the care of the seventeen babies 234 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 2: they gave birth to. It would take eight months and 235 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 2: DNA testing to match them to their families and determine custody. 236 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 2: Vernon says what to do with the genetic material inside 237 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 2: the canisters was another piece of the puzzle. Some of 238 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 2: it came from local clients like Maria, some of it 239 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 2: had come from Ukrainian cryobanks, whose staff sent it out 240 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 2: of the country for safe keeping after Russia invaded, and 241 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 2: some of it had come from the clinic's foreign clients. 242 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 2: The embryologists charged with caring for them told Vernon the 243 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 2: canisters contained frozen eggs and embryos from about one hundred 244 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 2: and twenty five people who had come from outside Greece. 245 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 2: Some of those people had traveled from as far away 246 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 2: as India and Australia to use the clinic services, and 247 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 2: some were clients of Sam. 248 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 4: Everingham, three parents were contacting me saying, look way here 249 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 4: for the birth of that child, but no one's here. 250 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 4: The staff of all gone. They're in gile wirestock. 251 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 2: Sam is the founder of Growing Families Global. Its mission 252 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 2: is to support and inform people looking for safe, ethical 253 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 2: fertility services. He says people often reach out to his 254 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 2: organization when they can't source surrogates or donors in their 255 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:49,239 Speaker 2: own countries and are hoping to find information about options overseas. 256 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 2: Representatives from the Mediterranean Fertility Institute had spoken at events 257 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 2: his organization hosted in Australia. He'd even gone to visit 258 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 2: the facility himself, and he says he was shocked when 259 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 2: he heard what had gone wrong there. 260 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,240 Speaker 4: Oh, it was horrifying. Yeah, it was really tough. We 261 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 4: had to get them in touch with the Greek lawyers 262 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 4: to help out there. Some of them wanted to take 263 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 4: cases against the clinic, many of them wanted to get 264 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 4: embryos out. We had to do a lot of work 265 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 4: to try and get embryo shipping happening to other countries, 266 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 4: and that was complicated because of the rules in Greece 267 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 4: around embryo export. So it ended up being a really 268 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 4: difficult lesson for people around the risks of cross border 269 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 4: reproductive care. You can't be on the ground looking at 270 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 4: what these planks are doing, and they'd pulled the wall 271 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 4: over the eyes of so many people. 272 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 2: Seeing the fallout from the closure of the Mediterranean Fertility 273 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 2: Institute made Sam re examine his own experience with the 274 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 2: fertility industry. 275 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 4: I suddenly started questioning the kind of things that were 276 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 4: happening in India. And we'd done it all those years before, 277 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 4: and I did organize some DNA testing for our daughters 278 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 4: because they are they look different. 279 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 2: Sam and his husband have teenage twin daughters born through 280 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 2: a surrogate in India. They'd been told the girls were 281 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 2: born from eggs from the same woman, but doubts had lingered, and. 282 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 4: Yeah, so look we've got the DNA test done it 283 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 4: and sure enough we've been told they were the same egdona, 284 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,479 Speaker 4: but the results so that they weren't. And look, you know, 285 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 4: it doesn't matter for us in terms of, you know, 286 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 4: loving our kids, but it's kind of weird when a 287 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 4: click tells you they've used one egdona and you find out, 288 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 4: well know, they hadn't. 289 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 2: Once Sam and his family had the results, they discovered 290 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 2: they weren't alone. 291 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,160 Speaker 4: We suddenly started realizing we're talking to other parents who'd 292 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:45,880 Speaker 4: done the same kind of tests and found the same 293 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 4: sort of thing, but the kids they'd had in the 294 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 4: same country were also different genetically. 295 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,719 Speaker 2: And obviously, as you said, this doesn't change anything about 296 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 2: how you love your children. But what did it feel 297 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 2: like having that revelation and that surprise. 298 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,439 Speaker 4: It just felt like a betrial, a trial from the 299 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,200 Speaker 4: abby of Clink's point of view in terms of, you know, 300 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 4: not being honestno being open with us at the time 301 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 4: about how they were credit imbrush. 302 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:22,640 Speaker 2: While reporting the story, Vernon came across cases of egg 303 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 2: theft in many countries, including ones in India and Israel, 304 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:27,840 Speaker 2: Italy and the US. 305 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: What's interesting is that the cases we know about were 306 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: addressed in the courts. They were addressed with disciplinary committees 307 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: and medical boards, but for the most part, they were 308 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: resolved with mirror slaps on the wrists of the doctors involved. 309 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 2: Vernon found that a doctor who stole eggs in Italy 310 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 2: was sentenced to jail time, which he ended up serving 311 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,720 Speaker 2: under house arrest because he was in poor health. He says, 312 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 2: doctors accused of egg theft in Israel and India have 313 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 2: been able to continue with their careers. In August twenty 314 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 2: twenty three, Greek police arrested eight Mediterranean Fertility Institute staff members, 315 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 2: including the clinic's founding doctor and its scientific director. Both 316 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 2: remain in jail. Awaiting possible trial. The doctor's lawyer didn't 317 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 2: respond to a request for comment. The scientific director's lawyer 318 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 2: said in an email that a list of questions from 319 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 2: Bloomberg about the police case contained inaccuracies, but didn't specify 320 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 2: what they were. It's unclear what the consequences will ultimately 321 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 2: be for those involved, but for Maria the impact has 322 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: been severe. She told Vernon that finding out her eggs 323 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:44,160 Speaker 2: had been stolen felt like a violation, like a rape. 324 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 1: Maria after her first reaction of thinking, my gosh, do 325 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,679 Speaker 1: I have Do I have a biological child or children 326 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: that I don't know about, she started asking the questions 327 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 1: of the police and it started with do you know 328 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: who this will is who got my eggs? And the 329 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,400 Speaker 1: answer is yes they do. Do they know whether she 330 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,160 Speaker 1: has had a child, And the answer was that they 331 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: didn't know. 332 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 2: Maria says the police told her Greek privacy law forbade 333 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 2: them from giving her the name of the woman who 334 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 2: received her eggs, but they could give her something else, 335 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 2: a code. 336 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,919 Speaker 1: Each woman who did IVF at this clinic was given 337 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: a code, a customer code. 338 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 2: And the police gave Maria her own code and the 339 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,400 Speaker 2: code of the woman who received her eggs, and one 340 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 2: day Maria would like to meet her, but first they'd 341 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:36,920 Speaker 2: have to find each other. 342 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:39,439 Speaker 1: She's hoping that there will be a way that she 343 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: can be connected to the woman who got her eggs 344 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,679 Speaker 1: through some official mechanism. If there isn't, she thinks there 345 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:48,199 Speaker 1: might be other ways. You know, you could set up 346 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,720 Speaker 1: a Facebook group. You could say, you know, the Honya 347 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:56,400 Speaker 1: egg scandal group, and let's say, you know egg egg 348 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,719 Speaker 1: donor one, two three four seeking egg recipient five six 349 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: seven eight. So that's the sort of thing that she 350 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:08,360 Speaker 1: thinks about practically, but in reality, what's haunting her and 351 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: she's getting psychological help, is that her child might someday 352 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: meet and fall in love with that child's half sibling. 353 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,479 Speaker 1: And she doesn't know whether this woman who got her 354 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: eggs is from Australia or the US, or Canada or 355 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: Italy or maybe Greece, and quite possibly her own town. 356 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: That if there is this other child, that maybe that 357 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,479 Speaker 1: child is a schoolmate of her child. 358 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 2: While police have identified as many as seventy five cases 359 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 2: of egg theft at the Mediterranean Fertility Institute, a Greek 360 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:51,199 Speaker 2: judicial source told Vernon the final count could be much higher, 361 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:56,720 Speaker 2: and Vernon says the ramifications are profound, not just for 362 00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 2: the women whose eggs were stolen, but also for the 363 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:01,160 Speaker 2: women who received them. 364 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 1: We've been talking about Maria, but what about the woman 365 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: who got her eggs. We're talking about scores of cases 366 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: just in this one investigation. What about all of those 367 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: women who may or may not be informed in the 368 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:21,959 Speaker 1: near future that their children were conceived from stolen eggs? 369 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: What about all the women and families who went to 370 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: that clinic and aren't informed, who think, gosh, maybe I 371 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: got stolen eggs. You know, Maria says, you know these 372 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: if she has a child, you know, it's my child. 373 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: But it's not my child, it's this other woman's or 374 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,639 Speaker 1: this other famili's child. But what's to stop someone like 375 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: Maria from trying to claim custody? 376 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 2: Vernon says cases like these lay there just how much 377 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 2: trust is involved with undergoing IVF and how easily that 378 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 2: trust can be exploited, Because he says, if a patient 379 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 2: can't trust her clinic, how can anyone who's done IVF 380 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 2: or used a donor egg be certain that they haven't 381 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 2: received a stolen egg or that someone else hasn't received theirs. 382 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 2: That was the second episode in The Human Egg Trade, 383 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,639 Speaker 2: our special series about the booming global market for human eggs. 384 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 2: The next episode in the series follows one couple's globe 385 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 2: spanning journey to start a family and what it costs them. 386 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: They call their son a quarter million dollar baby, right. 387 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: They say, by the time they finished the process with him, 388 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: they'd spent about a quarter million dollars. 389 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 2: And did they go into debt? They did go into debt. Yes. 390 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 2: For more in depth reporting on how the human egg 391 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 2: has become a precious resource traded around the world, read 392 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,880 Speaker 2: The Egg, an investigation by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and The Big Take. 393 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,400 Speaker 2: You can read The Egg on the Bloomberg terminal, Bloomberg 394 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 2: dot com or in the January twenty twenty five issue 395 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 2: of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. 396 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 2: I'm Sarah Holder. This episode was produced by David Fox. 397 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 2: It was edited by Tracy Samuelson, Lauren Etter, and Ken Armstrong, 398 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,360 Speaker 2: who was fact checked by Adriannatapia and mixed and sound 399 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 2: designed by Alex Zuguiera and Jessica Beck. Our senior producer 400 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 2: is Naomi Shavin. Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Our 401 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 2: executive producer is Nicole Beemster. Board Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's 402 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 2: head of podcasts. If you liked this episode, make sure 403 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,160 Speaker 2: to subscribe and review The Big Take wherever you listen 404 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 2: to podcasts. It helps people find the show. Thanks for listening.