The Red Market

Perhaps even more alarming is that most of the egg donors in Cyprus come from the relatively small population of poor Eastern European immigrants who are eager to sell their eggs at any price. Though no government statistics break down egg donation in the country, all clinics emphasize their large Eastern European donor pools because their light skin and high education standards make them easier to market to Western European customers. Of the thirty thousand Russians, Ukrainians, Moldavians, and Romanians on the island, some estimates say that as many as one in four have sold their eggs.

I WEIGH JUST a little under two hundred pounds, have brown hair, blue eyes, and a full set of teeth. As far as I know, my thyroid gland pumps the right hormones into the twelve pints of blood that circulate in my arteries and veins. At six feet two inches, I have long femurs and tibias with solid connective tissue. Both of my kidneys function properly, and my heart runs at a steady clip of eighty-seven beats per minute. All in, I figure I’m worth about $250,000.