Print
Close
FDA Cracking Down on Online Sperm Donor
Published October 28, 2015
Trent at Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, CA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says a California man who has fathered 14 children through sperm donation is breaking the law, and its trying to stop him from making further donations, KPIX reported.
The agency is classifying Trent Arsenault, of Fremont, Calif., as a “manufacturer of human cells,” since he has fathered 14 children.
The FDA is taking issue with Arsenault because he does not donate through regulated sperm banks or clinics; instead, he does it through his own website, trentdonor.org.
Couples looking to conceive with donated sperm can sift through his medical records, which include his childhood immunizations and sexually transmitted disease tests online.
“It is helping people in need,” said Arsenault, 36, who has been making donations since 2004. “I don’t make any money, I don’t charge people anything. And it’s just helping childless couples have children.”
However, the FDA believes sperm donation should be regulated by the government. The legal dispute has gone on for longer than a year.
According to a letter from the FDA, his “firm or establishment located in Fremont recovers and distributes semen, and therefore is a manufacturer of human cells.”
Arsenault, who works as a computer security expert in Silicon Valley, said he doesn’t understand why the FDA is getting involved.
He said he “enters into mutually desired partnership with childless couples,” and he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to submit to the same standards as sperm banks.
Arsenault said more than 20,000 emailed requests have come through his website, and he will continue to donate his sperm until the FDA makes an official ruling. Currently, two women are pregnant with his child.
Click here to read more on this story from KPIX.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/fda-cracking-down-on-online-sperm-donor