HFEA expresses concern over unregulated sperm donation services
09 May 2003
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has expressed concern over the lack of adequate screening and potentially misleading legal advice from web-based fresh sperm donation services.
Fresh sperm donation is not covered under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Therefore donor services offering fresh sperm to women are not required to hold an operating licence from the HFEA or abide by HFEA regulations.
The lack of adequate screening for fresh donor sperm raises concerns about the possibility of the male donor passing on infectious disease. In addition, treatment provided under licence from the HFEA guarantees that donors are not regarded as the legal parents of any children born as a result of the donation, but this is not necessarily the case with unlicensed services.
HFEA Chair, Suzi Leather says:
"The HFEA cannot guarantee good laboratory practices and safe testing of donated sperm from unlicensed donation services. We would strongly advise women using donated sperm to ensure it has been adequately screened to standards recommended in professional guidelines. Women wishing to use donated sperm are advised to do so through an HFEA licensed clinic where donated sperm is thoroughly tested and legal parentage is set down in law."
Proper screening requires sperm to be frozen and quarantined in a licensed storage facility before it can be used for treatment. This quarantine process requires a licence from the HFEA, therefore sperm from unlicensed services cannot have been quarantined and properly screened. Current HFEA guidelines recommend that donated sperm should be quarantined for at least 180 days in order to detect infections such as HIV.
Ends
Notes to editors
Full details of HFEA donor screening requirements can be found in part 4 of the HFEA 5th edition Code of Practice which is available on the HFEA website
The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA's principal tasks are to license and monitor clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination (DI) and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos.
For further information please contact the HFEA press office.
Page last updated: 12 March 2009