A sperm donor is currently being investigated for – wait for it – creating too many children; 23 babies in a year to be exact. Alan Phan has apparently been donating his sperm to registered fertility clinics in addition to offering it to would-be parents privately.
After receiving complaints from a number of clinics in Australia, the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Authority (VARTA) has launch an investigation on the 40-year-old man from Brisbane.
Under the Victorian law, men are only allowed to have 10 children (including their own). Alan, who has 2 kids of his own, explained that he couldn’t turn down a woman’s wish to have her own baby. Interestingly, Daily Mail reported that he even donated his sperm to 3 women in a day.
“When I first started, I was only going to donate 9 times. I reached my 9th and I thought that was it. Then I received a message from a lady around Christmas saying the donation was successful, which became my 10th. I thought, “Well, I’ve already gone over my limit, I’ll just help a few more”, and it kind of blew out. Some of the original recipients weren’t too happy about it,” he recalled.
Alan equates sperm donation to a full time job, but at the same time, still a hobby. To ensure healthy sperm, he had to abstain from sex, hit the gym regularly, and consume various vitamins.
According to Alan, he is the first Vietnamese man to donate sperm in Australia. Due to his ethnicity and success rate, demand for his semen has been high. “I was pretty surprised at the amount of interest I received,” he admitted.
Since Alan has exceeded the limit, VARTA Chief Executive Officer, Louise Johnson, explained that authorities will need to make sure that Alan’s sperm won’t be used for producing anymore children.
“Once a treating clinic knows that more than ten families have been formed through one donor’s donations, they cannot keep using that donor’s sperm. In addition to this when a donor reaches the ten-family limit, the clinic cannot use embryos already created using his sperm for a recipient who has not already had a child using that donor’s sperm,” Louise added.
Source: Daily Mail.
