FDA Warns Sperm Donor to Stop Selling Sperm Online
A Freemont, Calif. man is breaking the law by donating his sperm online, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Trent Arsenault, takes requests from families wanting his sperm from his website, trentdonor.org.
Arsenault, 36, has already fathered 14 children since his donations begun in 2004.
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The FDA is trying to put an end to Arsenault’s sperm donations because he conducts them online, rather than through regulated sperm banks and clinics.
Arsenault’s “firm or establishment located in Fremont recovers and distributes semen, and therefore is a manufacturer of human cells,” according to a letter from the FDA.
"The semen is provided fresh (unfrozen) and is transferred immediately to the recipient," said Arsenault in a statement. "Health of the mother and child is my utmost concern."
Couples looking to get pregnant can look through Arsenault’s medical history on his website. Arsenault’s sexually transmitted disease tests and childhood immunizations have been posted online for prospective mothers to review.
“It is helping people in need,” Arsenault told CBS 5. “I don’t make any money, I don’t charge people anything. And it’s just helping childless couples have children.”
Arsenault also told CBS 5 he “enters into mutually desired partnership with childless couples,” and doesn’t feel he should be subject to the same standards as sperm banks.
Arsenault will be represented by Cause of Action, a non-profit law firm that "fights for taxpayers against government over-regulation."
According to the CBS 5 interview, Arsenault has received over 20,000 requests on his website for sperm and will continue to donate until the FDA makes a ruling:
"If the FDA order is upheld, childless couples and couples who want brothers and sisters for the babies I've helped them have will be shut out.”
