Egg Auction: Survival Of The Prettiest?

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Posted 5:30 p.m. October 23, 1999 -- A California fashion photographer, hoping to cash in on would-be parents' wishes for a beautiful baby, is offering the eggs of eight models in an on-line auction.

Infertility groups have expressed disgust at the offer, saying it turns human life into a commodity. But photographer Ron Harris of Malibu, Calif., says his offer is a reflection of American society, where beauty can be purchased by the highest bidder.

The Web site, www.ronsangels.com, has pictures of eight models offering their eggs for sale.

The bids start at $15,000 and can go as high as $150,000. Harris said in a telephone interview Saturday that the Web site had already received a serious bid of $42,000.

The models receive the full amount offered; bidders must pay Harris' organization an additional 20 percent service fee, he said. The individual models decide when bidding starts, and a target price for the eggs.

"It's unethical and it's distasteful," Sean Tipton, spokesman for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said Saturday.

Infertility specialists are increasingly concerned about putting a price tag on human eggs. This spring, for example, a couple advertised that they would pay $50,000 for eggs donated from an athletic student from a top college.

Federal law forbids the purchase and sale of human organs, but trafficking in sperm and eggs is legal, infertility experts say.

Harris' work includes fashion photos, television directing for Playboy and exercise videos. Harris said he uses professional judgment to decide which potential donors are beautiful.

"That's what I did all my life," he said. "That's my expertise."

His Web site boasts that the models are in excellent health and subject to rigorous physical examinations. In a letter on the site, Harris describes the egg auction as "Darwin's Natural Selection at its very best."

He says society's obsession with appearance has made us stronger and healthier, and he pitches the egg auction as a chance for parents to give their children an advantage in society.

"Every organism is evolving to its most perfect state," Harris writes. "Finding traits that `repair' your genetic flaws is what we are all about."

The models could not be reached for comment Saturday, but on the Web site, each gives reasons for selling her eggs, ranging from "to not be dependent on a man," to "I want to help others."

Nancy Etcoff, the Cambridge-based author of "Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty," says it's natural to consider how your mate's attractiveness will be reflected in your children. But she said such direct marketing of beauty is a false promise.

"The way that we inherit features is sort of a genetic roll of the dice," Etcoff said. "This really is buying beauty for our offspring. Clearly, these offspring might not be beautiful at all."

Harris, 66, acknowledged that there was no guarantee of beauty, but he believes the odds are more favorable if a beautiful woman supplies the egg. He added that he thought it would be "unusual" for parents to treat a child different because of any disappointment about their appearance.

Harris, who has three children from four marriages, said its natural for parents to want attractive children. He said that each time his wife was pregnant he hoped for a cute baby. On the third try, he said, he got one.

"My third child is beautiful," he said, adding that he didn't favor that child over the others.

Aside from the egg auctions, Harris says an auction of male models' sperm is being planned, with bids from $10,000 to $50,000.

Egg donation has been largely an act of altruism until now, Tipton said. He said eggs donors typically are paid $2,500 to $5,000 for their time and inconvenience. In addition to the medical community rejecting the idea of selling human body parts, eBay, the world's leading Internet auction site, has banned the sale of eggs, sperm and human organs on its site.

"We as a society seem to have come to the conclusion that it's not appropriate to traffic in body parts," Tipton said.

But Harris said that if he can get infertile couples together with good-looking women who want or need money, everyone benefits.

On The 'Net:

• Ron's Angels -- all you need to know about the eggs
• American Society of Reproductive Medicine