A ruling was handed down in British Columbia, Canada, giving children created from donated eggs, sperm and embryos the rights to learn about their origins as they do in adoption. In effect, anonymous donations will no longer be permitted in B.C.

We have deep concerns regarding this ruling as it could have a chilling effect on the number of people who could be willing to donate eggs, sperm and embryos in Canada. Often times, donors only donate because they are given the promise of privacy in their act of donation. In this case, the "rights" of the offspring trumped the well-established right to privacy of the recipients and the donors. It may force recipients of donated eggs/sperm/embryos to head to the US for care so that they maintain their privacy.

For more information, view the Vancouver Sun article. We’d enjoy your thoughts and feedback too, which is available on our Facebook page.

Since we last sent our newsletter, EDI has visited four meetings. The first was The Art of Oocyte Donation in Charleston, South Carolina, in March. April was a busy month and we attended the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society meeting in Palm Springs, California, followed by the New England Fertility Society meeting in Connecticut. June found us in Chicago for the Midwest Fertility Society meeting. It was wonderful to interact with physicians, nurses and laboratory personnel. Understanding that our main goal is to reduce the number of embryos discarded or abandoned, the personnel we spoke to enthusiastically embraced EDI and our goals.

We will be at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in Orlando from October 17 – 19, 2011. Please be sure to stop by and enter our drawing for various prizes!

If you’d like us to meet with you or your staff and discuss how we might be able to help your patients, please contact us at [email protected] or call toll free at 800-334-2184.

We strive to continually provide news and information for the infertility community on new medical research and embryo-related topics. Our blog is where we do a majority of this posting, but we also do updates on our Facebook page, Twitter account and on LinkedIn.

Our most recent blog is about the issue of reimbursement for patients who donate embryos for human embryonic stem cell research. Last month we discussed compassionate transfers, and how long do embryos last. These are unusual topics that delve into the motivations of patients with cryopreserved embryos and the difficult decisions they make regarding them. Your comments are always encouraged and certainly welcome.

Upcoming blog topics include reasons to consider donating remaining embryos, options for donating and whether or not you’d like to meet the recipient family and others, so please stay tuned. If you have topics you’d like us to discuss, feel free to post a comment on the blog – www.EmbryoDonationBlog.com.

As we branch out, we’re connecting with more online fertility related sites and communities. Some of which we’ve had the privilege of coordinating online chats with, including MomsLikeMe and TheFertilityBlogs.com. Some of you may have been participants. If not, we encourage you to visit these sites, as they are excellent resources.

We’re also members of FertilityPod, MyBirthTeam, IVF.net and FertilityPlanit. Please feel free to search for us/Dr. Sweet and connect.

EDI is planning numerous educational events for embryo donors, recipients and the professionals that care for them. It is an exciting time here at EDI and we can’t wait to send out the information very soon.