I’ve written before–even post-sojourn (which is how I now think of my long break from blogging) about the problems with unregulated and for-profit sperm banking. It does not seem to me that this is a case that still needs to be proved. Surely it is clear that some sort of intervention is needed? (This doesn’t, of course, say what form of intervention and there are many devils waiting in those details.)
But need it or not, here’s yet another story that offers a glimpse of some of the complex issues that lie beneath current practices and any changes. It appears there is a sperm bank–Xytex–that (wittingly or not–and we’ll come back to this momentarily) provided sperm to a number of women that was not as advertised. It came from James Christian Aggeles. Aggeles lied to Xytex about his educational background and, to my mind far more importantly, his mental health history. While Aggeles had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and narcisissitic personality disorder, he omitted this information. His sperm was used to create over 30 children, including 7 in Canada.
Now clearly Aggeles did plenty that was wrong. But did Xytex? And if so, what? Continue reading