New regulations planned for internet sperm banks

Sunday, 14 August 2005 12:00 AM

Websites that sell human sperm and eggs over the internet could be subject to the same safety regulations as fertility clinics, under new proposals to be announced by the government this week.

The plans to regulate websites which currently fall outside existing regulation are part of a wider consultation on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA) 1990.

Health ministers are considering whether websites which deliver DIY sperm and egg kits, or match egg donors and surrogate mothers, should be subject to the same standards as regulated clinics, or banned altogether.

The move follow concerns regarding the operation of some fertility websites, which do not currently fall within the jurisdiction of the HFEA because they manage databases rather than actual clinics.

Under the existing law websites are not inspected and are under no obligation to screen donors for genetic problems or sexually transmitted infections. Website donors also do not also have the same legal rights as those using regulated clinics.

Explaining the need to revise the existing law concerning fertility treatment, public health minister Caroline Flint said: "The act was a landmark piece of legislation which has stood the test of time well.

"We never expected it would remain forever unchanged in the face of developments in science."

The chief executive of one of the websites in question, Man Not Included, said his site offered a "simple route" for people who wanted to conceive and that he would welcome some form of accreditation, but not to the same extent as fertility clinics.

"That would be like trying to say you could have the same regulations governing the use of a tricycle to those for a Ferrari," John Gonzalez told the BBC.

But a member of the Commons science and technology select committee, which published a report on fertility legislation last year, told The Observer that regulating the websites could lead childless women to sleep around in order to conceive.

"This may well force people to go down less appropriate or more risky routes," claimed Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris.

Commenting on current fertility rules, he added: "They have created the market in a sense, by continuing to allow discrimination against solo parents and lesbian couples - who are the ones Man Not Included has been selling to.

"Parents conceiving naturally were not made to prove themselves in the same way."

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