Posted on 01/22/2004 11:06:29 AM PST by Lorianne
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said Wednesday it would end anonymity for sperm and egg donors next year in an move that a fertility expert said could worsen the country's already critical shortage of donations.
Children conceived from donated eggs or sperm will have the right to track down their biological parents from the age of 18, public health minister Melanie Johnson told a news conference.
"I firmly believe donor-conceived people have a right to information about their genetic origins that is currently denied them, including the identity of their donor," she said.
"Today's new regulations will...remove the major discrepancy that exists between the rights of donor-conceived people and those of adopted people," she added.
But Professor Ian Craft, director of the London Fertility Center, said the move could have profound implications both on the supply of sperm and eggs and on donors themselves.
"Our evidence is that there is going to be a significant reduction in sperm and egg donation and provision," he told Reuters. "There is already an unbelievable shortage of donors."
Craft asked whether any thought had been given to the effect of an infertile woman who could not afford In Vitro Fertilisation donating her eggs to a woman who could and, 18 years later when still childless, meeting the other woman's child.
"The psychological impact on both the child and the woman could be devastating," he said.
Johnson said donors would have no financial or legal responsibility for any children so conceived but Craft still expected potential donors to be wary.
"I personally would prefer that people had a right to know about their biological parents and indeed their medical history which is of paramount importance. The more you know about donors, the better I think.
"But what worries the donors is the thought they might be legally compromised for the upbringing of a child or financially compromised even if the government tells them they are not."
Johnson noted that Sweden and the Netherlands had both seen donor numbers drop when they ended anonymity, but that they had since recovered.
Her announcement was welcomed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which oversees fertility treatment in Britain.
"It is very important for children to know where they come from," a spokeswoman said.
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