PRESS RELEASE - 09/10/03

VOLUNTARY REGISTER FOR SPERM, EGG AND EMBRYO DONORS AND DONOR-CONCEIVED PEOPLE TO BE PILOTED.

A voluntary register enabling people conceived through donated sperm,eggs and embryos to contact their donors, and half siblings to contact one another, is to be piloted.

UK DonorLink, which will be launched in the New Year, will be available to anyone over the age of 18 who was conceived before the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act came into force in August 1991. It will allow them through DNA testing to be matched with their donors or other half siblings who have also registered with UK DonorLink.

While the register is being prepared for launch, After Adoption Yorkshire- the charity behind the project has established a website (www.ukdonorlink.org.uk) to provide the public with progress reports on the development of the pilot. It is also hoped that donor �conceived people and their donors who are interested in the pilot will use the website to contact the project team during its preparatory stages.

Lyndsey Marshall, Project Manager for UK DonorLink said:

�The team at UK DonorLink is committed to ensuring that this register is shaped by the needs of donor conceived people and their families, as well as by donors and their relatives.�

The register is being established as a pilot so that its development can be shaped by the views of its potential users. The pilot will indicate the interest in a voluntary contact register. Donor-conceived people will have the opportunity to find out about their donors and similarly donors will have the opportunity to find out about their offspring, conceived with the assistance of their donation. This will clearly only be by mutual consent.

Members of the public interested in commenting on any aspect of the register�s development in either a personal or professional capacity can do so via the website or in writing to Project Manager, UK DonorLink, 31 Moor Road Headingley, Leeds LS6 4BG.

The findings of the project will be reported to the Department of Health.

NOTES FOR EDITORS
After Adoption Yorkshire, is a specialist independent registered charity that offers information, advice, counselling , support and training to people whose lives have been touched by adoption. They also have staff with experience and knowledge of donor conception issues. The establishment of this register, funded by the Department of Health, was announced by then Public Health Minister Hazel Blears in January 2003.

Over 18000 people have been born as a result of treatment with donated sperm, eggs or embryos since the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 required the HFEA to maintain a register of such births. An estimated 12000 people were conceived with donor sperm or eggs before then.

For media enquiries, please contact Lyndsey Marshall on 0113 2783217.