Canadians are turning to the black market in their quest to conceive a baby, illegally buying human eggs, a CBC News investigation has found.

CBC journalist Kelly Ryan recently contacted six Canadian women who were advertising their eggs on the internet.

Within days, three wrote back with an offer and each said they were willing to undergo treatment that could net as many as 20 human eggs.

Their prices ranged between $5,000 and $7,000. 

'The law is quite clear and it's based on Canadians' own submissions to Parliament that they don't want to commercialize the trading of eggs or sperm.'—Health Minister Tony Clement

"That just floored me," said Dr. Roger Pierson, a fertility doctor in Saskatoon.

"We would assume there would be a subterranean traffic in eggs and sperm based on telephone conversations, but to have it written down is beyond my comprehension at this point."

Law aimed at preventing cloning

Under the Assisted Human Reproduction Technology Act passed in 2004 to prevent cloning, it's not illegal for women to sell eggs, but it is illegal for anyone to buy them.

Anyone convicted of buying eggs can face a fine of up to $500,000 or 10 years in jail.

"I don't know an egg donor in Canada that hasn't been compensated," said one of the women contacted by the CBC.

CBC News agreed not to name the young woman to protect the people she has helped with her eggs.

She said the last time she helped a couple, both she and they swore in writing that no money would change hands.

The fertility clinic needed that assurance to stay within the letter of the law. But it was a lie.

$5,500 in envelope

"We all didn't care. They didn't care. I didn't care, because the money was just an energy exchange. It was just a thank you," the woman said.

The day her eggs were retrieved, the couple handed her an envelope containing about $5,500 in cash.

Sellers interviewed by the CBC say they don't do it for the money, but to help childless couples. But given the toll on their bodies, they feel compensation is fair.

"Anyone who has been through any fertility treatments knows that people would not do it for free," said one woman interviewed by CBC.

Exploitation worries

That worries Tim Caulfield, a professor of health sciences and law at the University of Alberta.

He said university students and women of "low socio-economic status" might feel pressure to sell their eggs for cash.

"The concern is women are going to be exploited. They're desperate for money," he told CBC News.

In response to the CBC News investigation, Health Minister Tony Clement urged Canadians to follow the law, saying he hopes the market will ease.

"The law is quite clear and it's based on Canadians' own submissions to Parliament that they don't want to commercialize the trading of eggs or sperm," Clement said. "Clearly, many Canadians who find it difficult to conceive do use assisted human reproduction technology and we want to encourage that."

"Canadians who want to start families should be given the assistance of a legal framework that helps them do that, and that's exactly what we're trying to do."