Thank you for all you do to help us better serve our constituents. Many of you have been incredibly gracious with your time, your talent and your financial contributions in supporting the work of The AFA.

In this issue of Professionally Speaking we chose to highlight two topics that we’ve been hearing a lot about lately: donor identity and air quality in embryology labs.

There still remains a fair amount of uncertainty about whether it’s healthy for a donor-conceived child to know the identity of the donor. It’s a decision that’s left in the parents’ hands. Though, a new service in California offers recipients

in search of sperm the option to go online to learn a great deal about all of the potential donors, including personality, appearance, education, hobbies, etc. Recipients can keep a digital copy of that information on CD, DVD, or computer to later show

Also, data surrounding air quality in embryology labs remains controversial. However, a fertility specialist from Alabama says: better safe than sorry. Find out what he has done to improve air quality in his practice, to the point of making it ten times cleaner than air found in an operating room. Another expert will weigh in on whether air quality in embryology labs is really all that important.

As always, we welcome your feedback. Hearing from you helps us grow as an organization and ultimately helps the patients that we’re all dedicated to assisting.

With my best regards,

Ken Mosesian

Picking a Donor
American Fertility Association

Gail Taylor

”These are people who theoretically will never interact with each other but have a unique bond,” says Gail Taylor, President of Fertility Cryobank, a California-based a sperm bank, that features an online donor catalogue. The FDA-licensed sperm bank’s website went online in mid-July, but has been in the works for several years.

The program requires donors to provide streaming video of themselves, which Fertility Cryobank shows on its website along with other information like child and adulthood photos, hobbies, and education. Recipients can then sign-up to learn about the donors from the comfort of their own homes. This also allows donors the opportunity to disclose more information about themselves, without having to go through an uncomfortable face-to-face meeting with the mother.

Taylor says, “Knowing they’re giving that video, they have this peace of mind that if someone wants to know more about them like their eye color, hair color or education which is all the sperm donor industry has done to date.”

Donors go through extensive psychological screening, IQ testing, and even interviews with a geneticist. They commit several months of their time and are paid per sample. Taylor wouldn’t elaborate on exactly how much donors get, only to say they are paid in the form of a flat fee per sample, competitive with industry standards. They’re recruited through online and printed publications. Taylor says qualified, attractive, and intelligent donors are then brought in for further screening.

Those looking to purchase, will pay $600 per specimen vial, plus subscriber access fees, which vary, based on the length of membership.

”Some people can pick a sperm donor in a day, some people want access to see all the new sperm donors coming through and want a membership that may last six months.” says Taylor.

She also says, “Once they have a pregnancy confirmed, they’re eligible to download to their computer that video and all the electronic profile of this donor, so they have it for the future to share with their child. That’s the really exciting part.”

Taylor is also the President and Founder of Growing Generations which has been helping couples start families since 1996 through its surrogacy and egg donation programs. The online video selection process started on this end of the spectrum and the model has proven successful. Taylor’s experience in reproductive alternatives coupled with the latest technology has helped get Fertility Cryobank on its feet. But, that’s not Taylor’s only motivation. Her story is much deeper.

“I have two children, an eleven year old daughter and five year old son. They are both donor conceived,” says Taylor.

Taylor’s eleven-year old has the donor information available to her, as the donor is a family member. But for her son, Taylor and her partner chose anonymous sperm donation.

“My partner and I have seen first-hand the difficulties of what it’s like to be recipient of choosing anonymous sperm and thinking, oh my Gosh, it feels like blind faith,” says Taylor.

So, what’s in it for the child, having this donor information available? Well, parents are able to file away the donor’s information, video, and profile to one day share with their children.

Taylor says ,“There are more and more studies that show the earlier you tell your children that they’re donor conceived, the more well acclimated they are to that information, the greater understanding they have as they grow, and it’s not such a shock.

Taylor says her FDA licensed sperm bank has a very

involved screening process. But, Dr. Maria Bustillo, who is arguably the first in the world to successfully perform an IVF procedure with an egg donor, says you should be on the lookout for reputable donor programs. She says her Florida practice does about 100 egg donations per year, and says it’s important that donations, whether it’s eggs or sperm, come from someone who either donated directly to the practice or an FDA-licensed sperm bank like Fertility Cryobank.

Dr. Maria Bustillo

“We get to have control, know who they are, screen them, etc. There are guidelines how to screen them, and most people do a good job. You just have to be careful especially if you’re using an agency because you can’t really trust 100% what other people are doing in general. You have to be careful,” says Bustillo.

There are also some psychological aspects to consider when deciding whether you want your child to know the identity of his or her donor. Dr. Bill Petok, LCSW, says disclosure remains a heated debate. He warns if disclosure isn’t revealed, those skeletons in the closet could one day come to life. Petok says disclosure shouldn’t be a matter of if…but when.

“There’s also a school of folks who say never, ever disclose. I think the state of the art in terms of psychology would probably be a better idea to disclose than not. Now comes the question of when do you disclose and how do you disclose? For a lot of folks, it’s ‘I’ll disclose when the kid’s old enough to understand.’ Of course, then comes the question of ‘when would that be?,” says Petok.

As time changes, so does the need to address these types of issues which are becoming more of a concern. Of course, fertility, pregnancy, and donor programs are all very private matters. Fertility Cryobank is simply another alternative for someone dealing with such issues.

Fertility Cryobank’s site is up and running and specimen have already been quarantined. It’s ready to be shipped to people’s doctors’ offices as soon as a donor is selected. Though, donors need to realize this new way of doing things means there’s an increased chance of one day meeting potential offspring.

Another resource is the donor sibling registry, which pairs offspring with siblings or donors who choose to disclose their identity. Of course, this is a process which comes well after the child is born and might not be for everyone. Disclosure advocates say as fertility issues continue to become main stream in daily conversation, so do issues related to egg and sperm donors.

“No longer do recipients have to rely on blind faith to select a sperm donor, but at long last seeing who these people are, why they do this, what they look like, do they have a glimmer in their eye? It’s revolutionary and long needed,” says Taylor.

Gail Taylor
Founder, Owner – President Growing Generations LLC.
Owner - President of Fertility Cryobank LLC.

Gail Taylor has more than 14 years of professional experience in the assisted reproduction industry. She founded Growing Generations surrogacy program in 1996 after working with one of the largest surrogacy agencies in the country. As Growing Generations President, she was integral in the expansion of the company’s services to include an innovative egg donation program, established in 2003.

María Bustillo, MD, is a graduate of the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Bustillo completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a research fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Harbor-University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center. Dr. Bustillo is Voluntary Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Dr. Bustillo has been board certified in Reproductive Endocrinology since 1983.

Dr. Bustillo has held numerous academic appointments throughout her career, including Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Division Director of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at both the Genetics and IVF Institute in Virginia, and the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Most recently, Dr. Bustillo has been the Medical Director of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Program for the Center for Human Reproduction in New York City.

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The ART of Air
American Fertility Association

Dr. Michael Steinkampf

“It turns out operating rooms are full of Volatile Organic Compounds. VOC levels in operating rooms are quite high. Alcohol, disinfectant for the equipment cleaning, volatile anesthetics are present in high amounts in operating rooms. There is also a number of VOC’s present in outdoor air as well from air pollution of various kinds,” says Dr. Michael Steinkampf, of Alabama Fertility Specialists in Birmingham, who also says, “Embryos are sensitive to volatile organic compounds in the air.”

When Steinkampf designed his practice he hired an outside consultant to design and install a state-of-the art air purification system, which looks like something you’d see in a Dr. Seuss book. This is certainly no fictional piece of machinery, but rather the real deal which not only purifies air particles, but VOC’s as well.

“Operating rooms are usually set up as class 1000 rooms. That means 1000 particles per cubic meter. When we commissioned our embryology lab the initial particle count was less

Dr. Steinkampf recognizes there’s still some uncertainty over whether air quality plays a role in the success of IVF. His theory though – Better safe than sorry.

“Some of the data on this is still controversial. But, I bought into it because I thought it would be better to have air that is too clean than not clean enough. It’s turned out to be a worthwhile investment for us,” Steinkampf says.

Jacques Cohen, Ph.D.

Jacques Cohen, Ph.D., Scientific Director at The Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at St. Barnabas, says air quality in embryology labs is of utmost importance.

“It’s extraordinarily important because eggs and embryos, unlike human organisms, have no defense systems. Humans have lungs to filter out air and particles and an immune system in case something gets into the body, the immune system will attack and remove it. The body has this enormous ability to stabilize in its immediate environment,” says Cohen.

Cohen also says while it’s known that VOC’s can affect the process, the degree to which it’s affected is unclear.

“We just don’t know to what extent. We don’t know if it’s to each individual volatile organic compound. I don’t think that’s something we’ll figure out. We’ll have to do prevention and slowly accumulate knowledge as well. Prevention is the way to go,” says Cohen.

When Steinkampf built his practice he took some extra precautions. Every nook and cranny, such as gaps in window sills and separation between light fixtures and the ceiling, are sealed up tightly, keeping the air pure.

“The air is held pressurized in the embryology lab. Above that, the

This precaution would be particularly important if there were to ever be a toxic spill outside his clinic or even if the highway department decides to put new asphalt on the street outside.

“The system is set up so that if we encounter some sort of serious air pollution that we can switch to a submarine mode and we can recirculate the air instead of having 100 percent outside air,” says Steinkampf.

As more, new embryology labs start popping up; Steinkampf believes they will start using similar air purifications systems. Even existing practices are capable of upgrading.

“The air handling systems are not cheap. However, even the IVF labs already set up can retrofit their air supplies by using commercially available, self-standing, filtration units,” says Steinkampf.

A native of Louisiana, Dr Michael Steinkampf received his MD degree at the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. His specialty training in Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Endocrinology/Infertility took place at Parkland Hospital and the University of Texas/Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He has been board certified in Ob/Gyn and Reproductive Endocrinology/Infertility since 1989. His practice, Alabama Fertility Specialists, is located in Birmingham, Alabama.

Jacques Cohen, Ph.D., Scientific Director of Assisted Reproduction, leads a team of embryologists, andrologists and biologists in the laboratory aspects of reproductive medicine. He oversees a variety of research projects, including molecular studies related to human gametes, research into structural chromosome abnormalities in gametes and early embryos,
development of techniques for egg freezing, and micromanipulation studies aimed at developing tools for clinical evaluation or therapy for oocytes and embryos.

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