30 Israelis probed over human egg trafficking in Romania

Some 30 Israelis were detained for questioning on Monday in Romania on suspicion they were involved in the trafficking of human eggs.

The suspects were detained during a raid on a fertility clinic in the capital Bucharest, but most of them were subsequently released on bail.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yossi Levy said that two Israelis were still undergoing questioning, and that the matter was being monitored by the ministry. "We have full confidence in the authorities over there, and I am convinced that this affair will be concluded quickly and effectively," he said.

Israel's ambassador to Romania, Ilan David, said that four doctors were still being questioned. He explained that the raid was carried out in light of suspicion that the clinic was operating without the proper permits.

David said furthermore that under Romanian law, egg donation was permissible as long as no payment was exchanged, and as long as the extraction of the eggs was done in an authorized facility. The clinic raided Monday was not authorized to extract eggs.

David added that most of the detainees were women, and stressed that they had not been arrested, but only brought in for questioning.

"The group was focusing on identifying foreign couples eager to resort to reproduction techniques and on grabbing Romanian (women) aged 18-30 to donate ova for 800 to 1,000 lei (e270 to e335)," Romania's department for fighting organized crime (DIICOT) said in a statement.

DIICOT said it had detained Harry Mironescu, a gynecologist and de facto head of the clinic, his son Yair Miron and Borzea Cecilia, a Romanian employee, for 24 hours and launched a criminal investigation against them.

Romanian television said the clinic had carried out about 1,200 in vitro fertilization procedures since opening in 1999, and that the main beneficiaries were Israeli, Italian and British couples.

In vitro fertilization, used by couples who cannot conceive normally, involves fertilizing eggs outside the body and placing them in the uterus for a normal pregnancy. If a woman's eggs are infertile, a donor must be found to provide fertile eggs.