In foreign baby labs, NRI couples have white babies!
Sunday December 7 2003 00:00 IST  newindpress.com

MUMBAI: Olive skin, dark hair, dark eyes _ a gurgling baby is born to an Indian couple settled in a London suburb.

But sshh, the beaming parents, a bundle of nerves for nine months, hold a secret they will never spill. Their precious new-born is, technically, half-Spanish.

Quietly and discreetly, Indian couples seeking infertility treatment abroad are learning to bring up a ``mixed-race baby''_born of an egg donated by a Caucasian woman_as their very own.

It's a hard choice. They confront waitlists stretching six months to five years because Asian egg donors are too few. The takers are too many.

Their legal alternative: a non-Indian donor. But one question first: ``Will our baby look Indian if the egg donor is a Caucasian?''

``Asians would be happy to receive Asian eggs if they were available but as there's a potential delay, they are also very happy to receive non-Asian eggs from a white woman,'' Professor Ian Craft, director of London Fertility Centre (LFC) at UK, told this website's newspaper in response to an e-mail questionnaire.

At LFC, responsible for Britain's first egg donor babies born in 1987, there are distinct signs of changing preferences. ``My staff inform me that of 17 Asians on our waiting list only one insisted on an Asian donor,'' Craft pointed out. ``We can treat Asian patients immediately if they have their own donor, but many do not. A Eurasian baby is quite accepted in Asian culture.''

The scarcity is more acute in UK, where unlike USA, donors are not paid. ``There is an acute shortage. The waiting time to find a suitable Asian donor is 2-5 years. Eggs cannot be imported, they have to be used fresh for optimal results,'' Dr Khaldoun Sharif, director of Assisted Conception Services, Birmingham Women's Hospital, UK, told this website's newspaper.

Sharif, an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, says there are ``numerous'' examples of a ``happy outcome'' for Indians who have waited for years for an Asian donor, then decided on a Caucasian. ``There's little effect on the baby's appearance, only dark Caucasians are chosen. The darker father genes are dominant.''

UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is known to okay infertility treatments with donor eggs and sperm of different racial origin, only for ``compelling reasons.''

From a Chicago suburb, infertility specialist Dr V C Karande says Indian couples who make this choice just want a healthy baby, race is secondary. ``Some Indian couples accept donors of Spanish or Italian origin. I tell the wife the child is biologically hers.''

At London's Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre (ARGC) recipients find their own egg donor, and sperm is procured from two donor banks. ``Limited numbers of Indian donors mean a good match may not be made, particularly if religion is taken into consideration,'' says Angela Seaton, ARGC senior scientist.

Seaton shares a ``somewhat surprising'' observation. ``Majority donors are Muslims, with the occasional Sikh or Hindu. But we rarely have enough information from banks/donors to distinguish between regions, like donors with roots in Pakistan or India''.

So from November to January, NRIs from USA, UK, Lisbon, France, Australia to Singapore, are heading home in search of desi donors during holiday leave. Couples when contacted by this website's newspaper declined to comment even on anonymity.

``Usually infertile Indian couples abroad prefer Mexican donors so that their baby looks as Indian as possible,'' says Dr Gautam Allahbadia, scientific director, Rotunda-The Centre for Human Reproduction at Bandra.

In a single November week, Dr Aniruddha Malpani treated four Indian couples from UK, USA, Australia and Singapore who had decided against a mixed-race baby. He knows of an Indian NRI couple who has chosen to accept a Caucasian donor, but are adamantly against sharing their story.

``During holidays Indians who cannot accept having a mixed-race baby return home. They find so many embarrassing questions about Caucasian donors,'' Malpani says. ``What if the baby is blond or has blue eyes?''