In Father of 100 childrenwe learn that three donors from the same family are the fathers of at least 600 children in an artisanal way through advertisements on the web, but also through an assisted procreation clinic, Procrea.
A new framework would make it possible to tighten the screws on these questionable methods and, possibly, to have legal leverage to counter their harmful effects, such as the imposition of a maximum number of sperm donations per man. This type of limit exists in other countries such as France, the Netherlands and Belgium, in particular.
In an exclusive interview, Mr. Boileau admitted to being surprised by the information brought to light by journalists Marie-Christine Bergeron and Maxime Landry.
“We didn’t see this coming,” admits Dr. Boileau. “On the Canadian scene, no one saw this coming either. This is a new situation.”
“For us, this is a significant public health issue and concern.”
– Dr. Luc Boileau
But the documentary broadcast on Crave shakes things up, since Public Health is now committed to contacting women who have had a child from these three men in particular to reduce the risks caused by this extraordinary situation.
“Shocked” and “touched” by the recently published information, Dr. Boileau confirms that public health wants to legally regulate this practice. One of the most critical aspects of resolving this issue is the sharing of information on the dangers caused by artisanal sperm donations.
Dr. Boileau is also categorical on this aspect: we must “well inform” mothers so that they can approach the subject adequately with their children to reduce the risk of psychosocial disorders.
“It is clear that there is a group of children who will have personal development [particulière] and a certain number of questions. There are practices that may be better than others for announcing it, at what time, how to do it,” says Dr. Boileau.
Public health wants children to be aware that they are genetically linked to hundreds of other people in Quebec “to reduce the risk of inbreeding.” We also want to reach women who would be interested in using sperm donors rather than assisted medical procreation.
Why so much time?
“We never really worried about it. We didn’t think situations like this would happen,” says Dr. Boileau to partially explain the time it took the authorities to take action, highlighting the complexity of the issue. “There is not much that regulates so-called “artisanal” sperm donations. The obvious framework that there is is that on medically assisted procreation which is a federal framework.”
One thing is certain, public health does not rule out any scenario. We could possibly witness the birth of a national sperm bank.
“It’s not a bad idea. It’s one of the things that’s on the table. […] Question of having better control, but of having a provision that is more standardized and more accessible,” concludes Dr. Boileau.
