Sperm Websites face curbs in legal review

16 Aug 2005

Internet Websites supplying sperm to single women and lesbian couples face regulation under proposals being unveiled by the government today.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint will launch a three month consultation aimed at bringing up to date the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.

The review of the 15-year-old legislation will ask whether the sperm Websites should be banned altogether or just more tightly regulated.

The companies running the sperm sites do not come under the existing regulation because they run databases of donors rather than clinics.

But this also means they are not required to screen donors for genetic problems or sexual infections, raising safety concerns for women using the Website services.

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