Should the children created by donated sperm be able to trace their genetic fathers? Richard Hannaford reports
It's a question troubling regulators all over Europe. In Britain the government says yes - the offspring of sperm donors should be allowed track their genetic fathers. In Ireland, the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction is expected to make its report on the matter this summer.
In recent years human sperm has become enveloped in ethical issues and, at the same time, the subject of international business.
In a small suite of non-descript offices, on the second floor of a red brick building, in the centre of a little known Danish city, is stored enough human semen to re-populate the planet.
"There are around 75,000 samples of frozen sperm in our cold stores," says Ole Shou, proud owner of Cryos International - perhaps the biggest sperm bank in the world.
And while the idea of such a place may conjure up visions of vast tanks, the truth is rather less impressive. Three refrigerated barrels (each about the size of a large top-loading washing machine) hold the future hopes of thousands of couples.
Peering inside can be seen hundreds of thin straws, tagged with different coloured labels, and swathed in clouds of liquid nitrogen. "Each straw contains about 4 ml of sperm," Mr Shou explains, "and they will last for many, many years".
This writer first came across the engaging Mr Shou when covering (as BBC Health Correspondent), a story about the donor sperm shortage in the UK. At that time a clinic in Glasgow was in such desperate need that the clinical director had applied for a licence to import the semen from Cryos. By that time Mr Shou had been in business for some years.
"In the beginning I took my bag to the university here and asked men, would you like to be a donor? That was a funny time," says Mr Shou, "But then the clinics heard about the quality and the large selection of donors - and we began to get orders from abroad."
Cryos now supplies clinics in 40 different countries around the globe, including Ireland. The company exports more than 7,000 straws of sperm a year, resulting in nearly 1,000 babies. The donors are regularly tested for a range of conditions, and receive about €33 for each sample.
Such has been demand for his company's services that he has recently opened a new office in the US. "On average we have grown about 10 to 25 per cent a year," he says.
Cryos has benefited from a change in western society, which has seen many men and women waiting until their late 30s to try for children, only to discover not all is working as it might. And of course there are worries about a decline in sperm quality.
While much debate and controversy remains about that theory, what is clear is that more men than ever are facing the fact that they're not producing sufficient sperm of good quality to achieve a pregnancy. And many couples are resorting to donated sperm.
But in an age when a person's genetic history is going to become ever more important, regulators have become concerned about the possibility of thousands of children growing up, the biological offspring of anonymous donors.
In Britain, the government has now decided that from next April all donors must be registered, and that any child over the age of 18, will then be able to trace their biological father.
For Ole Shou this could spell the end of his business in the UK. "These are young men who do it because its helping people, they don't get paid much, and I'm sure won't want someone turning up on their doors 20 years later."
And it's an issue that the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction has also been looking at.
As part of its review it has taken evidence from a range of groups, including the National Infertility Support and Information Group (NISIG).
"It's a difficult issue," a spokeswoman says, "On the one hand people should know their genetic history, but removing a donors anonymity could cause a collapse in the number of people willing to donate sperm." "Often the child is not so much about finding your father it's more about finding out if you have any brothers and sisters - particularly if you are an only child."