Fertility doctors say they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of guidance from Canada's $10-million-a-year assisted-reproduction agency, with one physician calling its oversight of the controversial field a "farce."
Some clinics try to abide strictly by a 2004 law banning the trade in sperm, eggs and surrogate-mother services, but the three-year-old agency meant to oversee the area offers no advice on where to draw the line, and ignores those who flout the rules, doctors charge.
As a result, practices vary from facility to facility, and desperate, childless couples sometimes feel driven to buy eggs or sperm over the Internet, taking "horrible" risks, physicians say.
Their comments come as the unexpected resignation of two board members of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC) recently cast a further shadow over the organization.
"The situation is a bit of a farce, really," said Dr. Ellen Greenblatt, who heads the fertility clinic at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital. "It's frustrating. It really leaves things in a state of limbo."
It is not just a matter of AHRC failing to police the industry, said Dr. Tom...
