Mouthpiece: Encouraging fertility donations

The Human Embryology and Fertilisation Authority (HFEA) has been holding a public consultation about sperm and egg donation focussing on recent societal and technological developments. These include the shortage of donors for fertility treatments.

Roughly 500 sperm donors are needed each year in the UK to meet the present demand, but some sources suggest barely 300 men participate. Similarly, there are reports that some people have waited five years before receiving an egg donation.

Rather than endure an agonising wait for fertility treatment in the UK, some elect for treatments abroad. As the HFEA notes, however, parents who conceive their children through foreign treatments forfeit certain rights for their children. Most notably, these children have no guarantee of knowing their genetic relatives.

A person's identity is deeply rooted in his or her connection to genetic relatives. Partly because of this, the UK has prevented anonymous donation since 2005, allowing that at age 18 children may learn the identity of their genetic parents. Yet, ironically, the removal of anonymity appears to be a primary cause of the precipitous drop in donation.

The HFEA inquiry asks whether donors should receive increased financial compensation to encourage them. One alternative solution may be to permit donors to contribute to more families. Currently, only ten families (couples or single women) may use donations from a single person. To deal with the shortage, the limit could be raised, although a single donor may not want to be known by numerous children.

Although somewhat mysterious, these identity questions pertain to everyone, and their answers will help us to understand humanity better.

• Christopher Bechtel is a research fellow with the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics