the recipients pay the clinics between 4,500—6,000 euros per treatment, which includes from leaving home unless they need to buy essential supplies and medicines or to go to work. a minimum of ten eggs. it comes as his wife maria tests positive for covid—19. it is the basis of a the country is europe's worst multi—million dollar industry. and it is claimed cyprus has more hit state after italy. fertility clinics per capita than france has brought in strict measures after seeing a sharp anywhere else in the world. rise in infections. prime minister edouard philippe has ordered bars, clubs, cafes a nd restau ra nts, cinemas and most shops to close. as many people as possible are being asked to work from home while schools will close from monday until further notice. we were not allowed to film fallon inside her clinic but i have been the united states has added britain given rare access to see an egg and ireland to its flight ban on european countries as it tries to limit the spread donation procedure elsewhere. of covid 19. vice president mike pence says internal travel restrictions are being considered. president trump has tested the surgical procedure for donating negative for the virus. eggs requires the donor to be put under anaesthesia as a needle is pushed into each ovary to retrieve their eggs. to climate change now, and a warning that efforts to tackle the issue by simply planting trees

we were not allowed may not be the answer. to interview the donor. initially, she agreed to talk to me scientists are warning that the rush but the laws here in northern cyprus by governments and businesses don't allow us to talk to them, to create new forests that is what the clinic said. could easily go wrong. our science editor and it was really tense there, upstairs, just outside david shukman reports of the operation room. a forest in staffordshire transformed into hi—tech laboratory. researchers who are investigating how trees use carbon. and it's difficult to find out. in an unusual you could feel how sensitive this is for them, for the donors. experiment, extra carbon dioxide is it felt almost like there was a wall built around them piped to the trees to create the and the donors were kind of atmospheric conditions excluded in a room. expected in the middle of the it is likely that children born from treatments like this century. and instruments matter how the forest we are. we need to be in northern cyprus will never uncover their biological heritage. after 50 years, the private clinics can destroy any donation records. the biological mothers very, very careful about what the effect of c02 is. the scientist in charge says there's still a lot to learn and he worries that governments and are rushing to plant essentially become ghosts. trees is an easy answer to climate change. if you try news trees to tidy up the mess we are making the next step is to create embryos through emissions, you are putting which could give a couple

those trees into a very rapidly a much—longed—for child. changing climate and they will struggle to adapt. this device tracks the movement of carbon dioxide. in a healthy forest, gases not only absorbed by trees, but some is released as well. what scientists you are finding out is that the way this is the business of baby making. carbon flows into a forest and out of it is a lot more complicated than from european fertility tourists you might think. so if mass to turkish women risking jail. the desperate yearning to become treeplanting is meant to be a a mother means demand for donor solution to tackling climate change, eggs is only growing. the trees are going to have to be monitored and cared for over not just decades but maybe centuries as well. of all the challenges, the task of planting is the simplest. shelby barba from canada can do an yet the women at the heart of this amazing 4000 trees and a day. people industry, the donors, are often the least valued talking about planting millions, billions of trees around the world. is it possible, do you think, and sometimes the most vulnerable. physically? it's definitely possible with the right amount of people, the right group of people. i've the future calls for these women

personally in three is planted just to be better protected but prospects over half a million trees. 0nce are bleak as increasing demand for their eggs is turning these donations into planted, the trees need to survive and experts are mixing different types to minimise the risks of disease. it's a bit like making sure you don't put all your eggs in one a multibillion—dollar business. basket, you are spitting out your risk and that if one part of that woodland fails for whatever reason, it gets disease that can't tolerate future climatic conditions, there are other parts of the forests that are other parts of the forests that are healthy and able to fill in those gaps. suddenly there is momentum to plant trees on a scale never seen before so what matters is doing it in a way that ensures the forests thrive so they really do help with climate change. david hello. a little bit of rain on the way for sunday. it's already raining across some parts of the country, particularly across northern and western areas. but the chances are that you'll see shukman, bbc news. some sunshine a little bit later now on bbc news — 100 women. on in the morning and the afternoon. cagil kasapoglu travels to cyprus now this is the weather centre that to meet the women donating their has been approaching us eggs to help others to conceive. in the last few hours. women in cyprus are undergoing gruelling procedures to donate their eggs.

ifeel like i'm ready to give birth. i feel heavy. bloated. tired. pain. it's brought wet weather but are they motivated to do this to parts of scotland, freely as a donation, western areas as well. this is the rainfall or are vulnerable and cash—strapped through the early hours of sunday, women being lured by the financial compensation? you can see, across parts i need money. yeah, you need money. of wales, the southwest too. you know, i have a lot but here we have south—westerly of things to do. winds and so it's not cold at all. taking care of kids, temperatures around nine or ten. i need to buy food, the winds blowing out of the north and take them to school. if they have good genes in scotland so a little bit colder here and even cold enough for some wintriness across the hills they would offer them more money. of scotland and the mountains too, of course. now, the forecast for sunday suggests that that rainfall good genes? yeah. yes. in what appears to be will linger perhaps into an unregulated market, the afternoon across the south—east there is no central database and east anglia. but the vast majority of the country recording their donations. donors become untraceable, is actually in for a fine day, and children born from their eggs will probably never know so the sun will eventually come out their genetic heritage. with demand for donor in places like birmingham, liverpool, york, newcastle as well, eggs growing rapidly, and certainly some fine weather there along with many parts of northern ireland and central i am going behind the scenes to find scotland. now, monday we see out how this hidden world operates. two areas of weather. 0n the one hand we have cyprus attracts women high pressure building

in from the south—west, from around the world for egg donation treatments. but also a low pressure is sending a weather front in our direction, but the high pressure will be more dominant across the uk on monday and that means calm winds and quite possibly scenes like this outside of towns. so a bit of mist around with some frost across many parts of england and wales, maybe eastern scotland too, but in the north—west of the country, here it's a different story. and northern cyprus low pressure influencing our weather, stronger winds, is a hotspot for women perhaps gale force in the western from my own country, isles and some outbreaks of rain. turkey, where it is but the vast majority of us — a fine day on monday. an illegal procedure. now, that weather front is going to move through monday night into tuesday, and it's actually going to introduce, again, cloud and possibly some rain across the west and the north—west of the uk. a little bit messy, i think, social media brings donors and recipients together. the cloud amount or forecasting 0nline, turkish women advise the cloud amounts on tuesday. each other to travel to there could be a bit of cloud here. northern cyprus to get donor eggs. but more especially, i think, in the north—west of the uk. basically, the further south and the east you are on tuesday the better the weather will be and very mild. if caught, they could face a three—year jail sentence. look about, 14, 15, 16 degrees. clinics here offer low prices towards the end of the upcoming week and into the weekend, and complete anonymity. it looks as though the weather's going to settle down, with high pressure building. it's a lucrative business with shiny sunshine on the way. fertility clinics popping up in otherwise deserted areas.

but does the glittering gift of life have hidden costs? i'm here to learn more about the secret world of egg donation. please raise your hips, i am inserting a metal device. 0ne embryo. northern cyprus allows older women to receive eggs. sarah, not her real name, has travelled from central europe. she desperately wants a child but at home, she has passed the standard age limit for fertility treatments, which is 45. he laughs.

fertility can be an emotional and a deeply personaljourney. but for some women, the discretion offered by clinics here is even more important. the island of cyprus is divided. the north is only recognised by turkey, and the south is the greek—speaking republic of cyprus. the entire island has become a hub for egg donation treatments because of its location between europe and the middle east. many from europe who come here are dubbed fertility tourists. the treatments are up to a third cheaper and come welcome to bbc news — as a holiday package. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: spain orders residents to stay at home unless they're buying essentials for infertile couples from the surrounding middle east where egg donation is mostly illegal

and hugely taboo, northern cyprus or going to work. offers easy access to these treatments and provides absolute the prime minister's discretion. wife is among a surge in coronavirus cases. strict anonymity laws france ramps up its response — restaurants, cafes, cinemas and nightclubs and all non—essential protect their identities. businesses have closed. more than 200 scientists right throughout the muslim middle write to the uk government urging it east, there is a religiously—based to introduce tougher measures prohibition on the use of both donor to stop the spread of the virus. sperm and donor eggs. and we look at the impact the justification for that coronavirus is having on religious practice ban in that whole kind of sunni muslim region is that you want to protect the marriage. around the world. that the addition of gametes from outside would confuse the lines of lineage and would also kind of infiltrate into a marriage in a way similar to adultery or something like that. for a lot of those families or those couples, i think they do it in a way that they want to go away and pretend that this never ican get i can get on happened and they don't plan on anybody finding out. so, it is... it kind of feeds into that

culture of secrecy. as well as complete privacy, clinics in northern cyprus match these women with egg donors who have the physical attributes they desire, and even more. i meet with a clinic coordinator. herjob is to consult with recipients on choosing their desired donor.

i want to know more about the women behind these forms. who are they, and what do they get in return for donating their eggs? my name is fallon, i am 30 years old. i've never done this before so i am a bit shy. fallon lives in the republic of cyprus. she made video diaries to show us what it takes to donate her eggs. i feel... like i'm ready to give birth. i feel heavy. bloated. tired. pain. you know, like, sharp pains around this area. i'm not sure why. and... it is like i am ready to give birth without the baby. this is her fifth time donating eggs.

each round requires two injections a day over a number of weeks. the process can cause swelling, pain, and hormonal fluctuations. fallon has four children of her own, but she is the biological mother of potentially many more. choosing to donate my eggs to someone in need, it's... i find it a selfless, amazing... it's just an amazing thing because there are a lot of women out there who can't have kids. i have four of them. and believe me when i say that i wouldn't change my children for anything in this world. they are all i live for. so i canjust imagine that woman, that family longing to have their own child. i'm travelling to meet fallon and find out how she first heard

about becoming an egg donor. hello, how are you? i found out about it on my facebook. they just popped on my wall, actually. you know when you are scrolling and you are just bored and stuff. that's what i was doing. it came up and i started reading. it turns out that social media is being used to recruit women as egg donors. and fallon tells me she has been receiving messages from an agent offering her a commission to refer other women. can you tell me more about those messages you have been receiving? here she is telling me to recommend other girls. she says, "i will give your money to her. i told you the commission is 150, right? 125 for girls from india, philippines, nepal, orafrica." what do you make of this? it's a bit insulting, i will be honest with you because if she is saying 125 for girls from africa, india, philippines, then how much do the white girls get? we are all women. 0ur eggs are the same.

i clearly see that there are a lot of people making money in this exchange. how do you see the system? it's corrupt. corrupt? mm—hm. i think the money is being used as a weapon to lure people, especially those that don't have a lot. you know, those that don't have much in this world. there is nothing you can do about it because at the end of the day, you need the money. they are not losing, that person is losing because she is losing that compensation that can maybe feed her children or pay her bills or something. fallon says, for her, egg donation is purely about giving the gift of life. but that's not always the case when financial compensation is involved. a quick look on facebook turns up dozens of ads and groups seeking donors.

advertising for egg donors is banned in northern cyprus but word still gets out online. as well as pulling on the heartstrings, money is also used to attract new donors. we never do advertisements that say, "come, we will pay you, you will get money." we never do this. are they getting paid? these women are getting compensation. we cannot say they are "getting paid" because it is not a word used in europe because if you say "getting paid" it means that you are selling your eggs and we are buying your eggs, but it is not like that. they are donating their eggs. the issue here is that calling it a payment would suggest a trade in human tissue which would be illegal. in some countries, like the uk, all female donors are compensated the same amount.

but globally, the amount can vary hugely. one of the groups offering more compensation is traveling donors, an international egg donor agency. their compensation ranges between $2,500 and $8,000 us. i can see from your facebook page that the amount of financial compensation varies, why is that? some ladies are happy to accept much lower compensation because for them the experience of travelling abroad and knowing that they are helping a couple is adequate for them. and then some women have higher educations or are professional models or doctors and lawyers. intended parents can choose from more than 250 profiles of female donors from all over the world. on each profile, there is a different compensation status — economy, standard, and premium. but how female donors are being price tagged is a concern for some. here in cyprus, university students are targeted for their eggs.

they are contacted via facebook ads and even face—to—face. i've come to meet students who tell me about what is going on inside universities. if they have good genes, they would offer more money. good genes? yeah. actually, we heard something from our friend. her sister, actually, was approached by someone who is in this business, maybe. and she was told that, "you have beautiful genes, you look very beautiful, won't you donate your eggs?" one girl, the ivf clinics wanted her to sell because she had orange hair. it is not... it is not common. ginger. ginger, yes.

anecdotes are plentiful here but finding female donors motivated by money to talk to us on camera about their experience is much harder. after months of trying, i found ada and grace, not their real names. they both frequently donated their eggs over a two—year period.

i need money, yeah, you need money. i have a lot of things to do. taking care of kids, i need to buy food and take them to school. i was not born in this country, you know, and when you have a problem, nobody cares about you. so i had to take care of myself, to provide for myself, to do all these things alone. the first time i did not know i was just going and they were giving me this money, 2,000 lira. and then another girl told me i could donate ten eggs for 1,000 euros, it was a little bit up and better and so i did. after every month, i decided to donate. after every month? yes. everyone one month? yes. every month. do they check how many times you've done it before? no. and you do not know how many eggs they are taking.

in some countries in europe, donors' details are kept on a central register and can be traced. but donors in northern cyprus have complete anonymity. they become untraceable and it means little is done to check on the donors afterwards. the worst case scenario is women who are already economically disadvantaged, who have very few life options sort of being funnelled into the business of donating eggs because that is the only route available to them to make money. the problem is if there is money being used to incentivise someone to undergo a procedure, such as donating eggs, we can say that that compromises their consent. what is being done to protect these women, the eggs donors? in terms of the global market? i think we can say almost nothing. very little is being done.

we don't know what the long—term consequences might be if a woman donates eggs ten times or 12 times, and she might go from one clinic to another doing that and because we do not have any kind of global registry or even a national registry in many countries, there is no way to know what the long—term consequences are for those women. before donating, women are given hormones to make their body produce dramatically more eggs. but this process can cause the ovaries to swell and be very painful. when women sign up to become donors, they are not necessarily getting the right information. so, fallon, have you been informed about the health risks? no, even on the ads, it says that it doesn't affect your health in any way. they told me that. it doesn't affect my health.

she has to give it a break as well. she can't continue every... i think she has done it... in one year, you have done it three times in this year. i don't know. three or four times this year and it is too much. but it is too much to be poked, going through the whole process of injecting yourself, it is not easy. it is not easy. fallon is going to the clinic to have her eggs collected. for undergoing this gruelling procedure, women like fallon will typically receive up to 1,000 euros for one cycle. that is up to 40 eggs. the recipients pay the clinics between 4,500—6,000 euros per treatment, which includes a minimum of ten eggs. it is the basis of a multi—million dollar industry. and it is claimed cyprus has more fertility clinics per capita than 00:21:54,437 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 anywhere else in the world.