Welcome to April, Loyal Readers. This week’s issue is dedicated to our article of the month. I’m excited to announce that we’ll be reading, annotating, and discussing “The Egg,” by Susan Berfield and a team of reporters from Bloomberg. It’s an incredible piece of journalism about the human egg trade. Here’s a quick excerpt from the piece:
The human egg is a precious resource, exchanged in markets open, gray or black. To tell its story, we follow a teenage girl in India, lured into selling her eggs; a model in Argentina whose genetic makeup is prized; a mother in Greece, told by police that her eggs were stolen; and two “egg girls” from Taiwan who have put themselves at risk to earn money in the US.
Sound compelling? If so, you’re invited to join our deep dive on the article. We’re meeting up to discuss the piece on Sunday, April 27. There will two sessions for you to choose from: one in-person in Oakland (10 am - 12 Noon), and one online over Zoom (2 - 3:30 pm). All you need to do is click the button below to sign up.
1️⃣ The Egg: A Story of Extraction, Exploitation and Opportunity
I’ve read a ton of articles over the past 10 years. The best ones do at least two things: they teach me something, and they grow my empathy. This piece about the global trade of human eggs did both — and much more. It blew me away, and I hope you take the time to read it.
A team of eight investigative journalists at Bloomberg travel around the world to report this story. They go to India, to Greece, to Argentina, to Taiwan, and to the United States. They follow five women who donate their eggs and share their reasons for doing so, de spite the medical dangers they face. They expose the lack of regulations in the industry and the large sums of money that are traded. They explore the ethical questions that arise — for instance: for whom is this explotation? for whom is this opportunity? Along the way, they explain the history of IVF and how technology has influenced the human egg industry’s boom.
This article had me hooked from beginning to end. The piece opens with an Indian girl, just 13 years old, who decides to sell her eggs because she’s always wanted a cell phone. Then there’s the part in China where postmenopausal women donate their urine, which is rich in hormones essential for use in fertility drugs. There are other parts, too. I could go on!
Instead, I’ll stop there and say this: This is an outstanding and important article, one worth reading slowly, thinking about, and discussing with other thoughtful people.
By Susan Berfield and Team • Bloomberg • 65 min • Gift Link • Audio
🎙️ If the length of the article is making you nervous, let Melinda and me encourage you to take the plunge! Here’s our introduction to the piece:
⭐️ About the author
I’m excited to announce that Susan Berfield, one of the authors of the story, agreed to record an interview with Melinda, which will come out in two weeks. Thank you, Ms. Berfield, for generously sharing your thoughts about your piece.
Susan Berfield writes and edits investigative and feature stories for Bloomberg Businessweek. She's examined the dangers of generic drugs and the flaws in our recall system. She's revealed a company’s years-long effort to misinform residents and discredit activists seeking to remove nuclear waste from a Superfund site outside St. Louis. Several months later, the Environmental Protection Agency reversed an earlier decision and demanded the company do so. Using confidential documents, she exposed how Walmart spies on its workers to prevent them from organizing. And she helped uncover a con man who talked a small Missouri town out of millions and was later convicted of fraud.
Stories she’s edited were finalists for a National Magazine award and Overseas Press Club award. A collaboration with WNYC about the secretive family behind the largest mall in the country was a Gerald Loeb finalist. She’s also won awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, the New York Press Club, the Deadline Club, the American Society of Business Publication Editors, and the Education Writers’ Association. Her story about honey smugglers was the basis for an episode of the documentary series Rotten, which premiered on Netflix in 2018. She’s appeared on National Public Radio and PBS NewsHour.
Before joining Businessweek, she was a senior writer at Asiaweek in Hong Kong, where her story, “Ten Days that Shook Indonesia,” won the Society of Asian Publishers’ Reporting Award and the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Award.
She earned a master’s degree at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where she was a Zuckerman Fellow. Her undergraduate degree is from Brown University; after graduating, she co-directed a documentary in India funded by Brown's Arnold Fellowship.
The Hour of Fate, her first book, was supported by the Logan Nonfiction Fellowship. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.
🙋🏽♀️ Interested? I encourage you to sign up.
You are certainly welcome to read the article, listen to the podcast, and call it a day. But if you’re intrigued, if you’re interested, you might want to discuss this article in more depth with other kind, thoughtful people.
There will be two discussions on Sunday, April 27 for you to choose from:
In-person in Oakland: 10:00 am - 12:00 Noon PT
On Zoom: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm PT
If you sign up, I’ll be sure to get you all the info you need, including what you can expect from the discussion.
If this will be your first time participating in Article Club, I’m 100% sure you’ll find that you’ll feel welcome. We’re a kind, thoughtful reading community.
What do you think? Interested? All you need to do is sign up below. Or if you have questions, hit reply or email me at mark@articleclub.org.
Sign up for the discussion on April 27
Thank you for reading and listening to this week’s issue. Hope you liked it. 😀
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