A widow, Beth Warren, whose
husband lost his life to cancer, stored her husband’s sperm for IVF; for once
she was stable ‘emotionally, financially and professionally.’ Beth wanted to
extend the storage of the sperm, so she will have more time available to decide
whether to conceive a child. However, gametes and embryo’s can be stored for 10
years, and when the statutory storage period comes to an end, the gametes and
embryos must be destroyed. For
this reason the UK regulators, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
(HFEA), said that the sperm could not be stored beyond April 2015. This is because
there was no written consent, previous to her husband’s death specifying that
his gametes could be stored beyond the statutory period. Extending storage is done in ten-year periods;
the law allows sperm and eggs to be stored for up to 55 years, if consent is
regularly renewed.
The HEFA, is dedicated
to the licensing and monitoring UK fertility clinics and all the UK research
involving human embryos, and providing impartial and authoritative information
to the public. Alternative ways against the HFEA’s appeal could be to export
the sperm so they could be used for fertility treatment in another country. Within
the UK, all clinics are controlled by the HFEA. The HFE Act of 1990 was changed
in July 2007, and so the EU Tissues and Cells Directive (EUTCD) became part of
the UK law. This allows the transfer of sperm, eggs and embryos between
accredited clinics, within the European Economic Area. However the donor of the sperm (or
eggs) would have to give consent for the transfer, and in the case of Beth,
this would not be possible. Or alternatively, the sperm could also be used to
create embryos, which could be frozen and stored to seven years.
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