Here are some British sperm happily seeking an egg. They are smiling as they wriggle their way across the petrie dish in the IVF lab, but almost all are doomed to failure. With a bit of luck one will succeed, fertilizing an egg and going on the form a human being.

Give it about 18 years and the person that arose from that serrendipidous moment when one little wriggler climbed the sperm equivalent of Mt Everest will start wondering about the half of their genetic inheritance they know nothing about, the male sperm donor who is their biological father. New laws in England mean that they can now legally find out who that man was.

"I firmly believe donor-conceived people have a right to information about their genetic origins that is currently denied them, including the identity of their donor. There is a growing body of opinion, which I agree with, that donor-conceived people should not be treated so differently from adopted people. Today's new regulations will align their positions,"

British Health Minister, Melanie Johnson told the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Conference in London. She said, in drafting the legislation, that the rights of the donor conceived child were considered to be paramount.

There are other rights at stake here of course, those of the donor and of the couple that were the fortunate recipients of the sperm but The Green Man wholehearted supports the right of a child to find and make contact with its biological father.

He/she may be in for a bit of a let down if they do discover and meet their father. Particularly in the early days of IVF, sperm donorship was approached with a degree of flippancy that is not present today, donors were often medical students coopted in by their lecturers who were conducting the research. Not all of these men will be happy to see the results of some light hearted student escapade arrive on their doorstep. It is to be hoped that an IVF child and it's environmental parents are well counselled and supported during this process.

Still The Green Man believes it is important to know and understand your biological father. The Green Man wishes them luck in their search and hopes that they are acknowledged and greeted warmly by their father should they find him.

Image courtesy of Dave Henniker