The FDA is cracking down on a San Francisco man who gives away his spooj on the internet to people he meets through his website. So far, Trent Arsenault has helped 14 couples get pregnant. But not all of them are aware that Arsenault is turning his "donations" into a torrent of amateur porn. 
 
 Scrawny 37-year-old tech worker Trent Arsenault was thrust into the spotlight after the FDA ordered him to shut down his one-man sperm bank because he's not following proper procedure. He landed on CNN, ABC News, Newsweek and more. Tapping into the Occupy Wall Street zeitgeist, he said part of his goal was to help the 99 percent who can't afford to visit a pricey sperm bank. 
 
 Last month, Arsenault's attorneys filed a brief to throw out the order, arguing his personal sexual practices shouldn't be regulated by the government. Arsenault's cause has since been embraced by an astonishing spectrum of political and cultural crusaders. The Huffington Post drooled (ahem) over Arsenault's locally-sourced, organic sperm: "We can't think of a better biological father than Trent Arsenault. Would you really rather trust some no-name who came in a cup for $50?" Right-wingers frothed over another case of government over-reaching. Daddy bloggers just want to let the guy breed. 
 
 But all the reports about Arsenault, not to mention his own website, leave out one fairly important fact. A longtime acquaintance of Arsenault's pointed out to us that Arsenault is extremely fond of posting explicit videos and pictures of his sperm donations on the web. 
 
 Aresnault's two Xtube accounts (NSFW and NSFW) feature more than 100 videos of him masturbating into sterile collection cups, using unusual aids like a water polo ball and frozen packs of organic blueberries. (Trent exclusively drinks blueberry smoothies for breakfast and dinner to boost his sperm count.) Trent's something of a celebrity on Xtube: his videos have racked up a cumulative 3 million views. Even our slutty, NSFW friends over at Fleshbot took a shine to him. 
 
 In a phone interview today, Arsenault explained that he considers himself a "donorsexual." 
 
 "100% of my sexual energy is devoted to being a sperm donor," he said. "Having those videos helps my sex drive... which is critical to being a guy with a 200 sperm count able to help three childless couples in one month get pregnant." 
 
 Arsenault also has a pair of picture sites. Trentnude.com is down for maintenance, but Google's cache shows it featured dozens of nude pictures including an entire gallery (NSFW) called "small penis." (Disheartening news for any Trent Jrs out there.) Then there's the gallery of Trent masturbating in an airplane lavatory, captioned with "Snakes on a Plane" jokes. Trendude.com is an underwear modeling site where the most-popular gallery has over 400,000 views. 
 
 Arsenault admits that not all of the couples who have become pregnant with his children are aware of his x-rated activities. He doesn't take pains to hide it—his Xtube site links back to his official donor page—but he doesn't actively inform couples, either. 
 
 "I don't make a point of trying to advertise that to women or couples because some people don't care to see," Arsenault said. He doesn't feel like he's deceiving his clientele, because the couples who have learned of his porn sites have been supportive. Some, he said, have even learned of him first through his adult work. 
 
 Our tipster was appalled that Arsenault hasn't been informing potential parents about his sex sites. "They need to know the whole story," they said. 
 
 But Trent obscures more than his porn sites in his donor material. His website boasts that he attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. What he leaves out is that he dropped out after about half a year in a rather bizarre fashion: by suddenly running away, hitchhiking to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and turning himself into the military prison there. 
 
 Arsenault says he was fed up with "bullying" superiors at the academy after he complained about the treatment of women there. 
 
 "I said OK, I'm just going to turn myself into prison and the government can imprison me for going AWOL," he said. (Instead, they put him on a plane back to Annapolis.) 
 
 Our source also said Arsenault was urged to seek psychological help during his time at Annapolis—Arsenault denies this, saying he only had a brief, standard mental exam when he was discharged. 
 
 Now, there's nothing wrong with shooting a bunch videos of yourself masturbating and uploading them to the internet, if that's your thing. But we do understand why a potential parent would want to be aware that half of their kids' genes are coming from a man with an apparently compulsive need to expose himself to strangers. Not to mention his odd past. Trent's elaborate official site is a masterpiece of marketing, presenting a picture of a squeaky-clean, all-American sailor which the media has been happy to reproduce. Consumers should know that Trent has another side. 
 
 So go ahead and have Trent's kid. He seems fit and genetically solid, if pretty strange. But it's worth remembering that the first stage of your child's conception might be forever memorialized as jack-off material for internet strangers. ||||| By Debbie Emery – Radar Reporter 
 
 A 36-year-old man has brought new meaning to the term “virgin birth” after revealing that he has fathered 14 children — despite never having sex. 
 
 Trent Arsenault of Freemont, California, who first hit the headlines last year for running an illegal sperm bank, appears on Tuesday’s episode of Anderson, and RadarOnline.com has a sneak peak of his bombshell revelation. 
 
 “I coined this term donor sexual and I’ll explain, it means 100 percent of my sexual energy is for producing sperm for childless couples to have babies,” Arsneault told host Anderson Cooper. 
 
 PHOTOS: Cutest Celebrity Kids 
 
 Currently being investigated by the FDA for running his private, one-man, unregulated sperm bank, where he has donated to more than 53 couples, the tech geek confirmed that he has never had sex. 
 
 “I will probably be the 40-year-old virgin, except I’ll have 15 plus kids,” he explained. 
 
 PHOTOS: Celebs Who Have Adopted Children 
 
 When the audience exploded in a round of applause, bemused Cooper responded, “Why are you all applauding? I’m not sure what the applause line on that is.” 
 
 Later in the show, Arsenault came face-to-face with one of his biological children, two-year-old daughter, Analise, for the first time. 
 
 PHOTOS: Model Moms 
 
 “It’s a thrill,” to meet her, he said. “I’m trying to not get too emotional. I’m just extremely happy that she’s healthy and in a loving home. I hope she has the gene of compassion and that her parents nurture that.” 
 
 The full interview airs on Anderson on Tuesday. You can watch a video clip right here on RadarOnline.com. 
 
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 Butt Implant Fake Doctor Victim Lets Anderson Cooper Feel The ‘Rocks In Her Face’ ||||| PORT HOPE, ONT.—Angie Collins opened her laptop one evening in June 2014 to a Facebook message she says “made her heart sink like a lead ball into my stomach.” It was from a woman in the United States who had used the same sperm donor as she had to get pregnant. They knew each other from an online forum that connects donor-conceived families. 
 
 Angie Collins, with her son in the background, is suing Xytex, a U.S.-based sperm donor clinic, alleging fraud and negligent misrepresentation, after she discovered the sperm donor she used to conceive her son had serious mental illnesses and a criminal past. ( Bernard Weil / Toronto Star ) 
 
 The woman wrote she had learned some unsettling information about their supposedly anonymous donor. He was not the healthy man advertised on his sperm-bank profile. She had discovered he has schizophrenia, a serious mental illness that, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, occurs in 10 per cent of people who have a parent with it. Collins, mother of a then 6-year-old son, and other moms who used the donor’s sperm frantically took to the Internet in search of information they hoped would disprove the revelation. Instead, “it just kept getting worse and worse,” she recounts in her first exclusive interview since her case made headlines around the world a year ago. 
 
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 The donor was nothing like the perfectly healthy man — aside from some colour blindness on his dad’s side — touted on the sperm bank’s website. Nor was he working on a PhD in neuroscience engineering en route to becoming a professor of biomedical robotics at a medical school. Instead, Chris Aggeles, a now 39-year-old man from Georgia, has struggled with serious mental illness for much of his adult life. In addition to schizophrenia, court documents show he has had diagnoses of bipolar and narcissistic personality disorders, and has described himself as having schizoaffective disorder. He has a history of run-ins with the law, has done time in jail, dropped out of college and struggled in the past to hold down jobs. His sperm has been used to create 36 children: 19 boys and 17 girls from 26 families, according to a 2014 email to Collins from Georgia-based sperm bank Xytex Corp. 
 
 And there may be more, says lawyer, Nancy Hersh, a San Francisco-based crusader on women’s health issues who is representing many of the families. He sold his sperm to Xytex between 2000 and 2014, she says, adding that some was stored and made available for use after that time. The international debacle has shaken confidence in the industry and fuelled a cross-border debate over the ethics of paying men for their sperm. In Canada, where it is illegal, there are calls to change the law to help address a shortage of sperm, and opposing arguments against its commercialization. Aggeles, his lawyer and some family members declined to be interviewed by the Star for this story despite repeated requests. 
 
 Article Continued Below 
 
 Collins, a 45-year-old teacher from this quiet town east of Toronto, says she felt physically ill when she was hit with the realization her “son’s life could just turn on a dime in puberty.” “It was like a dream turned nightmare in an instant,” she says. As early as this week, she and her partner, Beth Hanson, intend to file a lawsuit against Xytex from Toronto, Hersh says, noting they have retained local legal counsel. More Canadian families may join the legal action. As well, Hersh says she intends to file additional lawsuits in the United States on behalf of affected American and British families within the next two months. Allegations against Xytex, which include fraud and negligent misrepresentation, have not been proven in court and the company denies any wrongdoing. In a recent email, Xytex lawyer Ted Lavender says the company has been in compliance with industry standards. Xytex will “vigorously defend” itself against any new lawsuits and seek to have them dismissed, he writes, adding that he has no further comment at this time. 
 
 This will mark Collins’ second attempt to get legal redress. She and Hanson tried to sue Xytex a year ago in Georgia. But the case was dismissed because it was considered more of a “wrongful birth” claim, which is not recognized under Georgia law. (This is a legal cause of action in some jurisdictions in which parents claim they were not properly warned of risks of having children with serious health problems.) An appeal was dismissed because of procedural issues. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney pointed out that the law is behind the times when it comes to dealing with advances in reproductive technologies, and suggested there should be some way for plaintiffs to seek justice. “Science has once again — as it always does — outstripped the law,” he wrote. “Plaintiffs make a compelling argument that there should be a way for parties aggrieved as these Plaintiffs are to pursue negligence claims against a service provider in pre-conception services.” Emboldened by the judge’s words, Collins and Hersh are also turning to the court of public opinion to pressure the sperm-bank industry and government to make changes. “Given the current state of affairs in the sperm-bank industry, it is strictly a matter of luck if a sperm donor is an upstanding and healthy individual, not a matter of testing, screening, regulating or legislating,” Collins charges. “Who would have thought that an industry that makes people would be like this?” 
 
 Angie Collins and her partner Beth Hanson spent about four months in 2006 researching options for conceiving a child. Their son, seen above at 7 weeks of age, is one of 36 offspring from Xytex donor 9623. 
 
 She has spent much of the last 22 months calling and writing to sperm banks, distributors and bureaucrats, urging them to address the lack of industry oversight, insufficient screening of sperm donors and Canada’s reliance on U.S. imports. Hersh calls Collins a “hero” for her ongoing efforts and for going public with the battle. “She is the Erin Brockovich of the sperm-bank set,” Hersh says. “She is very brave and courageous to be doing all of this to prevent these problems from happening to other people.” Collins always wanted to have children, but being in a same-sex relationship presented a challenge. In need of sperm, she and Hanson spent about four months in 2006 researching their options. “I didn’t have a friend in mind and my doctor was actually discouraging of using a known donor,” she says. A fertility specialist suggested using a sperm bank, explaining that finding a known donor could be difficult and raise custody issues. She was given names of three sperm banks — one Canadian and two American. The Canadian bank, one of only three in the country that accepts altruistic donations of sperm from Canadian men — had comparatively few donors to choose from, she says. Since the passage of the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which made it illegal for men to get paid for donating sperm, there has been a shortage on this side of the border, local sperm banks report. Canadians seeking sperm are largely at the mercy of foreign markets, primarily the U.S., Health Canada confirms. Collins says she chose Xytex because of its large, reportedly high-quality donor selection and claims of rigorous screening. “You can rest easy knowing right up front (that) every Xytex donor ranks in the top 1% of the population in health and wellness,” Xytex’s website boasts. Xytex tests donors and their sperm for infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis, according to the website. The company says it requires a physical exam, psychological exam, completion of an extensive questionnaire that delves into personal and family medical history, and genetic testing for a number of conditions, including cystic fibrosis. 
 
 Donors must update their medical history and undergo a physical examination every six months, the website says. As well, Xytex is compliant with Health Canada regulations, which require additional testing for conditions such as chlamydia and gonorrhea. 
 
 Chris Aggeles' sperm donor profile said he had received international acclaim for his talent as a drummer. Social media posts show he plays drums in an indie-rock band. 
 
 In 2006, Collins pored over Xytex’s online catalogue in search of a donor. From hundreds of profiles, she zeroed in on “donor 9623” because he was “the male version of my partner,” she says. Like Hanson, the man in the ad was blue eyed, intelligent, academically accomplished and musically gifted. The donor’s full profile, an archived copy of which can still be found on Xytex’s website, states he has an IQ of 160 (the same as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking), bachelor’s and master’s degrees in neuroscience and is pursuing a PhD. 
 
 He has received international acclaim for his talent as a drummer, it says. Included in the profile is a six-page health questionnaire that asks whether he or any blood relative has any of 143 medical conditions. Donor 9623 answers no to all but one; his father is colour blind. Specifically asked if he has schizophrenia or manic depression (bipolar disorder), 9623 responds “no.” 
 
 For an extra fee, prospective families could download an audio interview of 9623, conducted by Xytex corporate donor counsellor Mary Hartley, who praises him as the “perfect donor.” Obtained by the Star, the 2006 recording portrays an articulate and impressive-sounding young man who says he speaks five languages, is studying artificial intelligence and plans on becoming a professor of biomedical robotics at a medical school. He says he reads four or five books a month (“non-fiction mostly”) and tells of once winning a pizza party at Pizza Hut because he read 300 books in a single month. Commenting on his motivation to donate, 9623 says: “Sure, at first the money is definitely an attraction. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t, but what really has kept me coming is the fact that I know that I am helping … to give parents who are very eager to have a child one of the greatest gifts in the world, their child. I can’t deny the power of that.” Hartley gushes over 9623, telling him she knew from the first time she met him five years earlier that he had an above-average IQ. She says she always knew he was motivated by more than money: “Gosh, you are lucky if you get a handful of men like you. I have been here two decades and I’m telling you, it’s hard to get guys (like you). The monetary compensation is what gets people’s interests, but I could tell you were going to be someone who would stick with it … just because you had a lot of integrity and it means just more than the income.” Hartley tells 9623 that it’s difficult to get donors of his calibre and that it’s men like him who make sperm banks above average: “I just remember thinking, good gosh, what a mature young man you were and I could just tell from our first conversation that you were very special . . . I said, ‘Oh my gosh, you are going to be the perfect donor.’” The interview was not available when Collins chose 9623. The written profile was nevertheless enough to sell her on him. She admits there was one sentence that gave her pause: “The medical and social history was provided by the donor and cannot be verified for accuracy.” Collins says she was concerned enough to call Xytex and alleges that her misgivings were allayed when a company representative told her: “We do all of our own internal testing to the degree that you will know more about your donor than your own partner.” 
 
 A distributor imported the sperm to Canada. Collins was impregnated through artificial insemination at a Toronto fertility clinic. She gave birth to her son in July 2007. The mothers who used 9623’s sperm learned of his real identity when Xytex released it to some of them in a 2014 email, seemingly inadvertently and “in a breach of confidentiality,” Hersh says. The curious moms naturally took to the Internet to learn what they could about James Christian “Chris” Aggeles. A U.S. mom was the first to spot trouble when she stumbled across a YouTube video of a young woman describing her struggles with schizophrenia. In 2012, an individual by the name of Chris Aggeles added this comment to the video, which has since been taken down: 
 
 “I have schizophrenia, and the ‘hearing voices’ is kind of hard to explain, but here goes: so I will be thinking something like, what I am going to make for dinner, and it’s like my thought gets interrupted by a voice that tells me something that usually has nothing to do with what I was just thinking. It’s usually mean, and will say things that are derogatory and demeaning to me.” Hersh says she interviewed Aggeles while preparing the first lawsuit against Xytex and that he acknowledged there were misrepresentations in his profile. Through public record searches, the Star has verified Aggeles’ donor profile contained incorrect information and has discovered additional details about his mental health, criminal past, education and work history. An Oct. 2005 forensic report, obtained from the Cobb County Superior Court in Georgia, shows he was charged with burglary seven months earlier, when he was 28. He allegedly broke into a house and stole a large number of musical instruments. The report was prepared by a psychologist who assessed him and determined he was competent to stand trial despite being mentally ill. There was some disagreement over Aggeles’ diagnosis with hospital records showing an earlier diagnosis of cannabis-induced psychotic disorder had been changed to schizophrenia. The report also states Aggeles had experienced “significant grandiose delusions” and been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder as well as bipolar disorder. Aggeles told the psychologist he had a seven-year history of psychiatric problems and had been hospitalized “numerous” times. The forensic report goes on to say that he had a history of arrests for trespassing, DUI and disorderly conduct. The Star was unable to confirm the outcome of those arrests. The Star also obtained from the court a transcript from a Nov. 2005 hearing during which Aggeles pleaded guilty to the burglary charge. Aggeles is quoted as telling the court he has bipolar and schizoaffective disorders. The transcript indicates he was not receiving proper medical treatment at the time of the break-in, but by his plea hearing, was on medication and regularly seeing a psychiatrist. His stepfather testified that Aggeles had suffered a series of psychotic episodes since age 19. Prior to that, the young man was on a promising trajectory. Very bright, he graduated from high school as an honour student and began studying at the University of Georgia (UGA) on a full scholarship. “High stress situations and lack of medication cause him to have psychotic episodes . . . With supervision with medication, I think he is a productive citizen,” the stepfather told the court. Aggeles mother also testified her son committed the burglary because his medication had been changed “and he was not mentally sane as a result and decided to take affairs into his own crazy head.” She explained he had a “very sporadic” work history and was not able to hold jobs for long. At the time, he had been working at the Outback Steakhouse for a month and prior to that at “a pizza place” for two months. But things “finally” seemed to be turning around for Aggeles, his mother told the court, explaining that “for the first time in 10 years,” he was able to take care of his mental health, education and employment. Facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, Aggeles was sentenced instead as a first offender, a disposition that meant a felony conviction would not appear on his record so long as he obeyed numerous conditions, among them staying on medication and continuing medical treatment. He was ordered incarcerated for eight months with the rest of a 10-year sentence to be served on probation, according to a copy of the disposition obtained by the Star. Aggeles promised to return to Athens Technical College from where he had dropped out the previous year. He said he wanted to get his grade point average up, return to UGA and get his scholarship back. “I’m very repentant and it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” Aggeles told the court. “I will never, ever commit another crime.” In delivering her sentence, Justice Adele Grubbs said: “Somehow he’s got to learn that he is personally responsible for his actions, not anybody else.” Aggeles did manage to make it back to UGA, graduating just last year. Two decades after starting at the university, he graduated with a bachelor’s in cognitive science, minoring in computer science, according to the registrar’s office. He attended the university in 1995 and 1996, then again from 2012 to 2015. He has also attended Kennesaw State University. Another inconsistency that jumped out at the families relates to photographs of Aggeles posted on his donor profile on the Xytex website. A childhood photo included in an early version of the profile showed a large mole on his cheek. But in a later version of the profile, a photo of the donor at a younger age curiously showed no mole. Hersh alleges it was doctored. Xytex denies this and says the donor provided signed photos of himself and that the company never altered them. Aggeles appears to be doing well today. He is currently enrolled in a master’s program in artificial intelligence and working at UGA as a research assistant. Social media posts show that he got married last summer and that he plays drums in an indie-rock band. Xytex maintains it has done nothing wrong. In an open letter posted on the company’s website last April, president Kevin O’Brien indicated Xytex relies on the honour system when it comes to collecting medical and social histories of donors. Xytex has always been upfront about letting would-be parents know the company does not corroborate such information, he said. “He (Aggeles) reported a good health history and stated in his application that he had no physical or medical impairments. This information was passed on to the couple, who were clearly informed the representations were reported by the donor and were not verified by Xytex,” O’Brien wrote, referring to Collins and Hanson. Collins and Hersh want sperm banks to do more rigorous vetting of donors, specifically by getting applicants to sign releases granting access to medical records. They also want sperm banks to do thorough criminal and education background checks. Given that donors can make up to $150 per donation, there is an incentive for men who would not pass the screening process to lie to make money, Hersh argues. This may be particularly attractive to those who have trouble finding employment, for example, men who are seriously mentally ill and ex-cons, she says. 
 
 The pair wants Xytex to create a medical fund so that offspring created from Aggeles’ sperm can be monitored as they grow for early signs of mental illness. Disorders such a schizophrenia are usually not diagnosed until the late teens and 20s. The fund would also be used for early intervention and treatment so the children could live the best lives possible. They also want Xytex to make good on a pledge on its website to inform parents of “new information” it learns about donors, which its medical director deems medically significant. Hersh says she is in contact with 16 families who have 23 children between them and none have been informed by Xytex about problems with donor 9623. Collins wants the Canadian government to amend the 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which made it illegal to pay sperm donors, egg donors and surrogates anything but expenses. She may have found a friend in Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal). A lawyer, he has been pushing for changes to the legislation since getting elected last October, prompted by friends who have hit him up for free legal advice after being stymied in their attempts to expand their families through assisted reproduction. They have been forced to look abroad for sperm, eggs and surrogates because the legislation limits availability here, he says, explaining that demand for assisted human reproduction is growing because of the increase in same-sex unions, single parents and women conceiving later in life. “We need to have a Canadian solution,” argues Housefather, adding that it’s “ludicrous” Canadian men cannot sell their sperm, but that Canada allows imports from countries where men can be paid. “Nobody is going to do this unless they are compensated,” he argues, noting that prior to the legislation there were “dozens of sperm banks” in Canada where Canadian men could sell their sperm and now there are only three where men can donate without pay. Housefather would also like to see regulations adopted requiring sperm banks to obtain medical records from donors and to do thorough background checks to confirm information provided by donors, for example criminal and education background checks. But others, including academic Alana Cattapan, warn that allowing men to sell their sperm is a bad idea. The post-doctoral fellow studying assisted reproduction at Dalhousie University says one reason the Assisted Human Reproduction Act was introduced was to prevent commercialization of human tissues and fluids. Though 22 years have elapsed since it came into force, the principle behind it remains important to Canadians, she contends. Cattapan argues the focus should instead be on facilitating altruistic donation of sperm around the world, that is, sperm that’s actually donated rather than sold. She cautions against continuing down the slippery slope of “reproductive capitalism,” warning that it’s ethically fraught. From all appearances, Collins’ son, now 8, is happy and healthy. The sweet, blond boy does well in school and is musically gifted. Like his donor, he plays the drums. But Collins can’t help but worry for him. “The most important entity to me is potentially facing a very debilitating lifestyle,” she says. She says she feels cheated: “I felt like I was duped by Xytex and I failed my son for having chosen Xytex. In hindsight, a hitchhiker on the side of the road would have been a far more responsible option for conceiving a child.” When Collins’ story hit the airwaves last April, she was forced to provide “my lad,” as she calls him, with age-appropriate information about the case. “I told him, ‘The man who helped create you and all your half siblings has something wrong with his brain. He shouldn’t have been donating and the company shouldn’t have been promoting him. We want to make sure that all you kids are safe in the future so we’re suing. “He didn’t ask at the time what was suing and we didn’t have to explain that. But he did ask, ‘So mommy, am I OK?’ “’You are fine right now,’ I said. He was like ‘OK’ and off he went.” 
 
 Angie Collins’ son, 8, is happy and healthy, but she is worried is facing a "potentially debilitating lifestyle." ( Bernard Weil ) 
 
 Read more about: ||||| Home » Trent's Profile Abstinence and sperm donation, sex, health and longevity Submitted by: trent on Jan 4, 2011 - (Last updated: Aug 4, 2011) According to the US HHS website, millions of dollars are spent on funding abstinence programs. Many recipients have asked Trent if he would be abstinent while donating, and Trent has had the perception and intuition throughout his adult life to know this would be an important quality of a donor. Article Quotes Canada 'Forces' Sex With Strangers for Sperm Donation‎ The Stir (blog) - Christie Haskell - Dec 14, 2010 
 
 "I'm not entirely sure what Health Canada expects to accomplish with their latest announcement. People who go through alternate avenues to get donor semen are likely already aware of the legal process and find it prohibitive and overly restrictive -- after all, if it were affordable and easy, who wouldn't go the legal route every time" Internet sperm trade risky: Health Canada "According to Canadian law you MUST be sexual partners in order to avoid legal action," 
 
 "Frankly, ever since the laws in Canada came into existence, egg donation in Canada — in Montreal at least — has ground to a virtual halt," says Dr. Seang Lin Tan Craigslist Sperm Donor Who Stalked Mom Part of Growing Dilemma - AOL Health - Sep 13, 2010 "She avoided using an anonymous donor because she wanted her child to know his dad. One of her friends jokingly suggested she try classified-ad site Craigslist." ||||| Like most sperm donors at Cryos International, Laus has chosen to be anonymous. The Danish sperm bank, which says it delivers sperm to more than 80 countries, is a great believer in protecting the identities of the donors on its list as only a small proportion have indicated they would be open to future contact. 
 
 You can click on Laus’s profile, which reveals him to be a 6ft 2in student of business administration with blond hair and blue eyes. There is a picture of him as a smiling baby and an audio recording of him as a grown man. “I cannot see any downside in donating my semen,” he says. “As for myself I am not ready to become a father yet.” 
 
 Like other sperm donors, Laus has been paid nominal amounts but is part of a rapidly growing fertility industry. Driving its growth is what some have called a “delayer boom” — the trend for women to put off having children until they reach an age at which their fertility is reduced — as well as the growing acceptance in many western societies of single-parent or same-sex families. 
 
 For-profit sperm banks such as Cryos, established in 1987, are among the businesses that are benefiting from these trends. Ole Schou, founder of Cryos, says his company processes sperm “like milk from a cow”. Like other sperm banks, it collects samples and tests and grades them. The different grades of sperm are sold at prices ranging from €40 to €1,000 per 0.5ml “straw” — which also reflects the amount of information Cryos publishes about the donor and whether he is open to future contact. The donors go through months of testing and only a tiny fraction of applicants are accepted. 
 
 Cryos is part of a “fertility cluster” in Denmark that turned over DKr1bn ($152m) in 2012, according to Copenhagen Economics, a consultancy. It estimated the cluster as a whole exported goods and services worth DKr700m in the same year. 
 
 One man might produce 75 sellable vials in a week 
 
 Denmark has become a world leader in the fertility market, says Annemette Arndal-Lauritzen, chief executive of European Sperm Bank, Cryos’s main Danish competitor. 
 
 Denmark has certainly become a significant source of sperm used in the UK. In 2013, according to the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, licensed clinics used 387 new UK-based donors and 178 new imported donors. Of the imports, donors from the US accounted for about 70 per cent. However, Denmark, with a population of 5.5m, was the next biggest source, accounting for nearly a fifth of all new imported sperm donors. 
 
 ©David Levene/eyevine 
 
 Clients and industry bodies are concerned, however, that the number of children born to sperm donors could be much higher than authorities think — the point is that there is no way of knowing. Cryos and many of its US counterparts ship directly to women’s homes, which means women can self-inseminate and authorities might never find out. “We can ship directly to a woman. We don’t need to go through a clinic and the authorities can’t do anything about it,” says Schou. 
 
 The implications of this and the associated under-reporting of so-called “live child” data (babies who survived), even from registered clinics, are serious. In Europe, most countries have imposed strict limits on the number of families a donor can help. In the UK that number is 10. The restrictions exist for a number of reasons. For example, authorities want to minimise the risk of in-breeding — half siblings could meet one another in the future and be unaware they have the same biological father. In addition, these rules help protect sperm banks against criticism and possible legal action should the father be found to be carrying a genetic disease. The limits are also meant to ensure donors and offspring are not shocked to discover how many biological relatives they have. 
 
 “One of the challenges is that people don’t report their [live births],” says Alice Ruby of The Sperm Bank of California, a non-profit organisation. “It needs to be more carefully monitored.” 
 
 Laura Witjens, chief executive of the UK’s National Gamete Donation Trust, which has responsibility for the recently launched National Sperm Bank, says the problems are exacerbated by the financial incentives for those in the industry. She estimates a donor could help to generate up to £50,000 in revenue if his sperm is sold through UK clinics and linked to fertility treatments for just 10 families. His sperm alone, if sold by the non-profit National Sperm Bank for straightforward insemination, could earn £5,000 —£6,000. 
 
 The industry doesn’t always operate at the highest ethical levels 
 
 But a donor’s sperm could generate far more — in the US, for example, there are recommendations, but no rules, to limit the number of families a donor can help. In addition, sperm banks that sell to European countries sometimes exceed their limits — Schou says Cryos simply puts a warning up when the limit has been reached and does not ask buyers to identify themselves. Also, many sperm banks are marketing globally — once they have reached a limit in one country they can still offer an individual’s sperm for sale in another. Schou says the average Cryos donor will have 25 children, although he admits some will have more than 100. 
 
 Wendy Kramer, founder of the Donor Sibling Registry, a US-based website that invites donors and siblings to connect with one another, says she has met men who are shocked to discover they have fathered more than 200 children. 
 
 She set up the site because her own child, who was born after she received donated sperm, was curious about his origins. “My own donor donated three times a week for five years,” she says, adding that men might not be aware just one donation could father several children. “One man might produce 75 sellable vials in a week,” she says. 
 
 Witjens agrees men may not fully understand what they are doing. “I’ve spoken with UK donors who think one ejaculate equals one baby,” she says. 
 
 “We assumed they would keep accurate records and practise the highest ethics. A lot of us have come to realise the industry doesn’t always operate at the highest ethical levels,” says Kramer. ||||| Unprecedented: A British woman is staging a legal bid to become pregnant with her own grandchild – using her dead daughter’s eggs (file image) 
 
 A British woman is staging a desperate legal bid to become pregnant with her own grandchild – using her dead daughter’s eggs. 
 
 In the first case of its kind in the world, the woman, 59, and her husband will claim it was their daughter’s dying wish that her eggs be fertilised by donor sperm and implanted into her own mother’s womb. It would be the couple’s only chance to become grandparents after their daughter, an only child, died of bowel cancer four years ago while still in her 20s. 
 
 She chose to freeze her eggs in the hope that she could have children in the future, but tragically lost her battle with the disease. No UK-based clinic has agreed to treat the mother, who is now hoping to export the eggs to New York, where a clinic is lined up to provide fertility treatment at an estimated cost of up to £60,000. 
 
 At her age, the woman’s chances of becoming pregnant using the eggs are small. 
 
 There are potentially large risks to her health, and the health of the unborn child, if fertility treatment succeeds. 
 
 However, the woman and her 58-year-old husband say they are determined to honour their daughter’s wishes and the case is now set to be decided by a judge. 
 
 If successful, the woman would be the first in the world to give birth to a baby using eggs from her dead daughter, experts believe. Dr Mohammed Taranissi, who runs the ARGC fertility clinic in London, said: ‘I have never heard of a surrogacy case involving a mother and her dead daughter’s eggs. It’s fair to say that this may be a world first.’ 
 
 The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has already refused the couple’s application to export their daughter’s frozen eggs to America, on the grounds that she did not give clear written consent. 
 
 But her parents are now preparing to challenge the ruling in the High Court. They claim their daughter told them shortly before her death that this was what she wanted. 
 
 However, politicians and campaigners criticised plans to bring a baby into the world long after their biological mother has died. 
 
 David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: ‘I can’t understand why anyone would want to do that. I would have grave concerns about any permission being granted by the HFEA or the courts. It’s potentially rather disturbing.’ 
 
 Josephine Quintavalle, from campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, acknowledged there would be sympathy for the mother’s loss, but said it would be ‘impossible not to feel very uncomfortable’ if the procedure was allowed to go ahead. She said of the potential grandmother: ‘Her daughter is irreplaceable and should be mourned as such.’ 
 
 But Annie Casserley, 62, who acted as a surrogate for her own daughter, said: ‘If that was her daughter’s wish and she wants to honour that wish then it’s absolutely her choice.’ 
 
 Treatment: The woman and her husband will claim it was their daughter’s dying wish that her eggs be fertilised by donor sperm and implanted into her mother’s womb. Above, file image of artificial insemination 
 
 Women who have gone through the menopause are still able to bear children using donor eggs and sperm. However, obstetricians say the risks associated with pregnancy, such as miscarriage, are greater. 
 
 The full details of the controversial case are revealed in minutes of the HFEA’s Statutory Approvals Committee, which has so far rejected three attempts by the couple to secure permission to use the eggs. 
 
 The Mail on Sunday is aware of the family’s identity, but will respect their wish to remain anonymous. Last night lawyers for the family declined to comment, saying they considered the case to be private. 
 
 The documents reveal the couple’s daughter was diagnosed with bowel cancer at 23 and chose to freeze and store three of her eggs at IVF Hammersmith in West London in 2008. 
 
 SURROGACY: THE FACTS, THE LAWS AND THE ETHICS Cases of surrogacy, where a woman carries a child on behalf of its genetic parents, have more than trebled in just six years. But in only a handful of cases worldwide has a woman become a surrogate for her own daughter’s child. 
 
 The first surrogate grandmother, 56-year-old Pat Anthony, from South Africa, gave birth to triplets for her daughter in 1987. Since then the UK has seen at least four cases. 
 
 Any woman can legally become a surrogate in the UK as long as they are not paid more than ‘reasonable expenses’. 
 
 To become a surrogate, women have standard IVF treatment using embryos created from the genetic mother’s eggs. 
 
 In 2013, 167 babies were officially born to a surrogate parent in the UK, up from 47 in 2007. However, there may be hundreds more. 
 
 The woman who gives birth is always the legal mother; genetic parents must apply for a court order to get full legal rights over the child. 
 
 Surrogacy is not the same as ‘three-parent babies’ because the child’s genes come only from the biological parents. No DNA is passed from the surrogate. 
 
 She completed a form which gave consent for the eggs to be stored for use after her death, but crucially, failed to fill in a separate form which indicated how she wished the eggs to be used. This technically meant her consent became invalid. 
 
 She died in 2011 without leaving further instructions. She was single. The minutes reveal the ‘strongest and only evidence’ of her wishes was a reported conversation with her mother while she was in hospital in 2010. The young woman is said to have asked an unnamed doctor whether someone with a stoma such as herself could carry a child. The doctor confirmed it was possible. 
 
 But, the mother says, it was then agreed that if her daughter could not carry a child ‘I would do it for her’. The minutes say the young woman wanted her mother to ‘carry her babies… in the context of her not expecting to leave hospital alive.’ 
 
 The couple approached fertility clinics after their daughter died. They hoped to create embryos using standard IVF treatment from their daughter’s eggs and sperm from an anonymous donor. However, no UK clinics were prepared to carry it out. 
 
 Generally, fertility clinics will not treat women over 50 because of the limited chances of success and the extra risks involved. 
 
 Despite this, the HFEA committee was not required to consider the mother’s age in this case because the issues solely surrounded whether her daughter consented to her eggs being used in such a way. The couple have now been approved for treatment by a US clinic, New York Fertility Services. The minutes say: ‘Although it is stated that the chances of [the woman’s mother] becoming pregnant are “very small” and that “any complications could be life threatening”, the couple say that they are determined to “honour their daughter’s wishes”.’ 
 
 The application for permission to export the sperm was made to the HFEA by IVF Hammersmith, which is storing the eggs. It treats both NHS and private patients and is based within Hammersmith Hospital in West London. 
 
 Applications in November 2013, March 2014 and August 2014 were rejected. Minutes from the HFEA committee say they are ‘sympathetic’ to the parents’ views, but that they did not provide enough evidence for the export to be agreed. 
 
 The HFEA confirmed the case will now proceed to judicial review. It will be heard in the Administrative Court, a division of the High Court, at a date to be set. 
 
 Risks: At her age, the woman’s chances of becoming pregnant using the eggs are small. There are potentially large risks to her health, and the health of the unborn child, if fertility treatment succeeds (file image) 
 
 If this final legal bid fails, the eggs will be destroyed in February 2018, ten years after they were stored. 
 
 Professor Simon Fishel, managing director of Care Fertility clinics, said the only similar case involved a British mother who attempted to use her dead daughter’s already fertilised embryo – but that bid failed. 
 
 However he believed the latest case was ‘little different’ in ethical terms to that of Diane Blood, who in 1997 won a legal fight to use her dead husband’s sperm to try to conceive a child. 
 
 He said: ‘One argument is this: if the family feels it’s right for them, whose right is it to interfere?’ 
 
 But he said other factors should be taken into consideration. 
 
 The HFEA said it did not know of any other cases where a woman had given birth to a child using her deceased daughter’s eggs. However, it added that it would not automatically be informed if adequate consent had been provided and if an export licence was not needed. 
 
 A spokesman declined to comment further on ‘an on-going case’. Imperial NHS Trust, which runs IVF Hammersmith, also had no comment. 
 
 I GAVE BIRTH TO MY OWN GRANDCHILD... SHE SHOULD, TOO Legacy Annie Casserly acted as a surrogate for daughter Emma ten years ago. Her granddaughter Annie (pictured as a newborn) is now nine A British woman who was one of the first surrogate mothers to give birth to her own grandchild has backed the couple’s bid to continue their daughter’s legacy. Annie Casserley acted as a surrogate for her daughter Emma ten years ago after she was diagnosed with a rare lung condition which meant pregnancy could be fatal. Emma is still alive – although on the transplant list. Mrs Casserley’s granddaughter, also named Annie, is now nine. Mrs Casserley, from the West Midlands, said of the new case: ‘It’s a way of keeping their daughter alive, isn’t it? That’s what they must be thinking. It’s like creating an extension of their child. They’ve lost their daughter. It’s heartbreaking. ‘It depends on the woman’s health but if that was her daughter’s wish and she wants to honour that wish then it’s absolutely her choice. ‘If you can keep a part of your child alive, anyone would do it, wouldn’t they? My heart goes out to them.’ Mrs Casserley, now 62, said she had ‘no regrets – not one’ about carrying her daughter’s child, and that she treated her ‘no differently’ to her other three grandchildren. ‘Even if I’d died in the process I wouldn’t have regretted it. It was an absolute privilege. The only stipulation was I didn’t want to give birth so I had a caesarean under general anaesthetic. ‘When I came round, my daughter was sitting beside me, smiling, with Annie in her arms. I was at home, straight back to normal, two days later. ‘I just grew her. I’d do anything for my daughter, and this was just one of those things you do for your children.’ 
 
 Unmasked: Sperm donor cowboy who's 'fathered 40 children... with 15 on the way' as doctors warn of health timebomb of 'siblings' born in 50-mile radius 
 
 By Ben Ellery and Jacinta Taylor for the Mail on Sunday 
 
 Criminal past: Spemr donor Declan Rooney as he emerged smirking from court in 1993 
 
 The Mail on Sunday can today unmask an anonymous sperm donor who boasts that an astonishing 32 women are expecting his babies and another 15 are about to take pregnancy tests after asking him for donations. 
 
 Declan Rooney, 42, claims he is ‘Britain’s most successful sperm donor’ and says he has donated sperm to two more women who have already given birth. He also has six children born naturally with three different mothers – meaning he has the potential to be the father of 55 children. 
 
 The former web designer runs his website under the alias Upton North and advertises himself on Facebook to single women, lesbians and couples desperate for a baby. 
 
 Last night experts called for an investigation into the unregulated and potentially dangerous service he provides to women he meets online, with one sociologist saying that Mr Rooney was ‘determinedly engineering a one-man eugenics movement’. 
 
 Medical experts fear he could create a ‘ticking timebomb’ by flouting official guidelines for sperm donation, which limit the number of families that legitimate sperm donors can help create to a maximum of ten. As well as growing up without knowing their father, his children will potentially live close to each other, meaning that half-brothers and sisters may meet and unwittingly have children of their own. 
 
 The murky world of unregulated sperm donation has come under increasing scrutiny from watchdogs as the internet offers men and women easy opportunities to meet up anonymously and create families – without needing to qualify or pay for expensive private fertility treatment, overseen by doctors. A cycle of artificial insemination costs £850 privately and is only offered to selected patients on the NHS. 
 
 Rooney set up his anonymous site last March, offering to visit women in their homes or hotel within a 50-mile radius of his Middlesbrough home and give them a sample of his sperm in a specimen pot for them to inseminate themselves. 
 
 His website, which was taken down last night after he was contacted by The Mail on Sunday, stated: ‘I am willing to help either through artificial insemination or naturally with no strings attached.’ Despite that wording, he told this newspaper that he does not have sex with the women. 
 
 Sperm donations are not illegal unless a man charges for the service, but the risks of private donations include reports of women being abused, pressured into sex or forced to hand over money when they meet a donor. 
 
 His cynical advert: Declan Rooney boasted of 'natural' insemination, but insisted he did not offer sex 
 
 Rooney, who insists he acts within the law, says he only charges ‘expenses’ and that his motives are purely ‘altruistic’. He said: ‘I like helping people’. And he added: ‘Have you changed anyone’s lives for the better?’ 
 
 Since becoming a sperm donor, Rooney says two lesbian women in the North East have given birth to his children. He said: ‘When I was told, I was really happy for the mothers. I like meeting new people, I like hearing their stories, I like problem-solving. I’m quite an altruistic person. I haven’t done anything illegal. 
 
 ‘I set myself up as a private donor and have been inundated – I have 5,000 emails. If they are too far out of the area I say no to them. If you say you’re a sperm donor, people say it’s really smutty, but if someone said they were an egg donor it’s like “Wow that’s amazing”. There were a few days when I had a success each day. It’s a good feeling.’ 
 
 Donor: Rooney pictured with his partner, who he says understands his reasoning for donating 
 
 On Rooney’s webpage he backed up his claims by posting photos of ultrasounds scans, positive reviews from female recipients and an image of a specimen pot. 
 
 A HUMAN Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) spokesman said: ‘Unfortunately, women finding a sperm donor online, rather than through a licensed clinic, run a number of risks. Apart from the personal safety risks to the woman, the donor won’t have been screened for infectious diseases like HIV, or for inherited illnesses, and he will probably also be the legal parent of any child that is born. ’ 
 
 Dr Suvir Venkataraman of London’s Harley Street Fertility Clinic, added: ‘A registered clinic will inform a child of a donor who else has been born using their sperm so they don’t have a sexual relationship with someone sharing the same genes. This man cannot expect to keep tabs on everyone and that is a big risk.’ 
 
 Mr Rooney, who says his partner ‘understands my reasons for donating’, claims that his family have had no medical issues in five generations. ‘I wouldn’t donate if I had something genetically wrong. And there is no risk that my offspring will unknowingly have sex with each other because evolution makes sure that we are not attracted to people with the same genes,’ he claimed. 
 
 He also boasted that he is ‘immune’ from the Child Support Agency. ‘The CSA has to find your taxable income and assets. They would have difficulty. I’m not scared of them,’ he said. 
 
 Mr Rooney was photographed on the front page of the Daily Mail in 1993 leaving court smirking after he was found guilty of causing £60,000 of graffiti damage. He was given a suspended sentence and served seven months in a young offenders’ institution while waiting to stand trial. As he stepped out of the dock he said: ‘My barrister’s a genius. I’m laughing. It’s a soft touch.’ 
 
 Questioned on his criminal past last night, he said: ‘I don’t mention it to recipients, but if the subject comes up then I will talk about it.’
– A 36-year-old California man who boasts he's an "organic" sperm donor and has fathered 14 children through his free donations, has never had sex, he has revealed. Silicon Valley computer security specialist Trent Arsenault tells Anderson Cooper today that he's a "donorsexual" who has committed "100% of my sexual energy for producing sperm for childless couples to have babies. So I don't have other activity outside of that." An incredulous Cooper asks: "So you do not have sex?" Arsenault responds: "I will probably be the 40-year-old virgin—except I'll have 15-plus kids." Arsenault's free sperm bank, operated out of his home, has been ordered to shut down by the US Food and Drug Administration for possible health violations. The FDA alleges that Arsenault hasn't taken the legally required precautions to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, reports the Mercury News. Arsenault claims the FDA is opposed to his one-man shop because the sperm is "fresh" instead of frozen, and hasn't been quarantined. "I'm helping people in need," he told the Huffington Post. "I'm not running a business here." To make everything a tad weirder, Arsenault touts the importance of "abstinence" during sperm production on his website. To top that, Gawker has dubbed Arsenault an "amateur porn star" for the explicit videos he has posted of him "donating sperm" (yep, into a cup) on the web. The program airs today.