Two surrogacy services raided

The Shenzhen health inspection bureau said on Thursday it raided two agencies in Shenzhen that provided illegal surrogacy and reproduction services.

The bureau said one agency, called Shenzhen Ande Yiyangtang, was in an elders' home in Longhua new district. The officers also found drugs to promote ovulation as well as massive case-history materials.

The bureau sealed the agency for further investigation.

The other illegal agency was in the Buji sub-district, the bureau said. The officers found surrogacy contracts and materials related to illegal assisted reproduction. The suspect confessed they searched for buyers and sellers mostly online. That site was also sealed.

According to a report in Southern Metropolis Daily on Thursday, the illegal agencies earned 100,000 yuan ($16,000) to 150,000 yuan from each deal, while the young women who provided eggs earned 20,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan.

The majority and the most sought-after providers are office workers. Their biggest advantage is that they are young, have a good education and are attractive, the report said.

A small percentage of the providers were college students. Foreigners were also wanted.

The report cited a representative from Ande Yiyangtang surnamed Guo as saying that a Hungarian student sold her eggs via the agency for 60,000 yuan in September, since the buyer wanted"a beautiful mixed-blood baby".

Another report in the newspaper on Friday said doctors of several public hospitals in Shenzhen and Dongguan are suspected to be involved in illegal deals.

Wang Lina, doctor at the reproductive center of the Peking University Third Hospital, said the illegal egg deals can harm women's health.

"Ovulation injections carry a high risk for the egg providers, mostly young women who never had a baby before, that their ovaries will be overstimulated and may affect their fertility in the future."

"If they received such injections too many times, it can lead to ovary cancer, and in extreme cases the provider's life can be endangered."

Shan Juan in Beijing contributed to this story.

huangyuli@chinadaily.com.cn