With sperm frozen 21 years ago used to create a baby, many are asking how long can and, perhaps more importantly, how long should semen samples be kept? Richard Hannaford investigates
It's a classic tabloid tale: childless couple has baby with the aid of science. In newspaper terms it's a modern day miracle. And over the past few weeks the British "redtops" have been full of the pictures and story of Trevor and Joan White and their son Daniel.
In 1983 Trevor was treated for testicular cancer. Knowing this was likely to make him sterile, he put five vials of semen in the sperm bank and left them there. Then in 1995 he and his wife decided to try for a baby using the sperm. After a number of unsuccessful attempts Daniel was born two years ago - the first baby to be successfully conceived and delivered using a sperm frozen for 21 years.
"The key is in the cryo-preservant - the liquid in which the sperm is frozen," says Ole Shou, owner of one of the biggest sperm banks in the world. Based in the Danish City of Aarhus, Shou runs Cryos, a company which specialises in exporting donor sperm to couples with fertility problems all over the world - including many in Ireland.
He also offers men undergoing cancer treatment the prospect of long-term storage. "Nowadays we can keep the sperm for many, many years - possibly a thousand," he says.
At the new Merrion Clinic at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, embryologist Dr Declan Keane believes it doesn't really matter how long the sperm has been kept for as long as it's been correctly frozen.
He says the best results come from sperm that is slowly frozen and then, when it's wanted, it has to be rapidly thawed. "It's a delicate procedure, if you freeze the sperm too quickly, it could damage the sperm," he says.
Amazingly, freezing, when properly done, does not appear to affect the sperm's ability to fertilise the egg, nor does it seem to affect the embryos made. There is currently no evidence to suggest children born from frozen sperm are at any greater risk of abnormal development.
In the UK, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates all the clinics, says no sperm can be kept for longer than 10 years - unless, like Trevor, there are exceptional circumstances. And once a man reaches 55 years old the sperm must be destroyed.
The rules were instituted when it was realised that hundreds of clinics were storing sperm and embryos, which were never going to be used. The problem was the patients and clinics had lost contact with each other and no one knew who was really responsible for the frozen sperm and embryos. In many cases, clinics had simply disposed of them. But the HFEA goes even further, demanding that clinics have effective alarms and that monitoring systems are fitted to storage vessels and an out-of-hours alert system for staff if a freezer fails.
In Ireland there are no rules - just guidelines - and certainly no external monitoring of clinics' activities.
Marie-Louise Brennan helps run the sperm bank at the Human Assisted Reproduction Ireland (HARI) Clinic at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Set up in 1998, it was particularly aimed at offering men undergoing cancer treatment the chance to have children later on. All patients have to sign a consent form, which states their sperm can be kept for 10 years. But they can ask for it to be kept even longer. "It all depends on the individual's circumstances," says Brennan. But if the person dies, the sperm cannot be used at all. It is then defrosted and allowed to die.
This is important given the ethical problems that can arise. Lord Winston, the eminent British fertility expert, in his book Making Babies, tells the story of Marilyn. Her husband died of a terrible genetic disease. Knowing he was about to undergo experimental treatment he provided a sample of semen for freezing in case he was made sterile.
However, the treatment failed and he died. After the funeral Marilyn asked to use the sperm. But the husband's family, fearful that any baby would also contract the disease that killed its father, objected. Eventually the sperm was thawed out and a cycle of IVF was organised but it failed.
And it's no longer simply sperm clinics in Ireland that are storing. The Rotunda has begun to freeze women's eggs - again for people about to undergo cancer treatment. And of course there is the issue of embryos. How long should they be kept? And who is responsible for them if clinics lose contact with their potential parents?
The Government has set up a commission to examine all these issues. It was supposed to report earlier this year, but a spokesman now says the final draft isn't expected on the Minister for Health's desk before the autumn.
According to Dr Keane, there is an "urgent need for a regulatory authority to be set up to monitor and regulate the activities of fertility clinics".