Government Shutters Agency That Oversees Canada’s Fertility and Assisted Reproduction Industry
By Tom Blackwell,
National Post
| 03. 30. 2012
It has triggered a boom in risky multiple births, created a generation of children with anonymous sperm-donor parents and spawned an underground trade in semen, eggs and surrogates.
Canada’s thriving fertility industry, however, will soon be left with virtually no official oversight, after the federal government decided this week to close down the oft-criticized regulatory agency for the field.
The government indicated in Thursday’s budget there is no point keeping Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC) open after a 2010 Supreme Court of Canada decision struck down much of the law it was supposed to enforce. The agency is slated to be shuttered by next March, its remaining functions taken over by Health Canada.
And though the court said large parts of the federal legislation fell under provincial jurisdiction, the provinces have shown little inclination to step into the breach.
Meanwhile, the issues that a Royal Commission argued almost 20 years ago urgently required regulation continue to percolate: the commercial trade in sperm, eggs and surrogates; the multiple births generated by in-vitro fertilization; the effect on children of having unidentified donor...
Related Articles
By Keith Casebonne and Jodi Beckstine [with CGS' Katie Hasson], Disability Deep Dive | 07.24.2025
In this episode of Disability Deep Dive, hosts Keith and Jodi explore the complex interplay between disability science, technology, and ethics with guest Katie Hasson, Associate Director at the Center for Genetics and Society. The conversation delves into...
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.16.2025
Eight babies have been born in the UK thanks to a technology that uses DNA from three people: the two biological parents plus a third person who supplies healthy mitochondrial DNA. The babies were born to mothers who carry genes...
By Suzanne O'Sullivan, New Scientist | 07.09.2025
Rare diseases are often hard to spot. They can evade detection until irreversible organ damage or disability has already set in. Last month, in the hope of preventing just this type of harm, the UK’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, announced...
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.11.2025
The Walking Egg project is bringing IVF to rural communities in South Africa.
This week I’m sending congratulations to two sets of parents in South Africa. Babies Milayah and Rossouw arrived a few weeks ago. All babies are special, but...