A raffle to win a free cycle of Invitro Fertilization (IVF), has extracted intense criticism from bio-ethicists and infertility experts in Britain and the United States. The raffle was held in London's Millennium Gloucester hotel and was sponsored by the Fairfax City-based Genetics & IVF Institute the United States.

The reward of the raffle is a free cycle of IVF worth $23,000 in the US.

Unlike a normal IVF procedure, where the donor's identity is kept hidden, the winner of the raffle will be able to choose the donor egg after taking into account the mother's profession, ethnic background, hair color, qualifications and so on.

Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, expressed his displeasure at this, saying, "Egg-raffling commodifies human reproduction and commercially exploits vulnerable women who are already on an emotional roller-coaster - both those who are struggling to overcome infertility and also those who are embarking on the process of egg donation; itself by no means risk free".

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, the regulatory body for fertility clinics throughout Britain, maintains that the procedure undertaken by the clinic was perfectly legal even though it upholds the view that the method of raffling was improper.

Dr. Harvey. J. Stern, of the Fairfax clinic, defended the clinic by saying that the notion of offering a free treatment cycle is not new and raffling is just another way of presenting the service.