How to breed a ‘beautiful’ baby

BeautifulPeople.com, self-defined "as the dating site with a strict ban on ugly people," announced on June 21 the launch of their virtual sperm and egg bank.

Greg Hodge, the managing director, explained, "BeautifulPeople.com has launched a fertility introduction service to help members and non-members alike procreate."

To access the virtual sperm bank if you are not a member you will need to go to BeautifulPeople.com, click on "Or browse the site as guest" and in the left-hand menu select "groups," search "Fertility" then you will have access to the Fertility Forum, also referred to as the virtual sperm bank.

Once inside, there are a number of members engaged in four group discussions. One of the more interesting is titled "Racial hygiene?" that delves into "Fertility Tourism" and all the criteria reviewed before selecting sperm donors in Europe.

BeautifulPeople.com likes to spark controversy, as they did when revoking the membership of 5,000 members because they gained weight, its founder Robert Hintze said, "Initially, we hesitated to widen the offering to non-beautiful people. But everyone - including ugly people - would like to bring good looking children in to the world, and we can't be selfish with our attractive gene pool."

However, more interesting is to ponder whether it will lead to a global trend where individuals will be able to use the web in a systematic way to select sperm or egg donors. A virtual, less intimate, sperm bank already exists with SpermCenter.com, a site that helps Americans cull through over 1200 sperm donor profiles for $9 (€7.30) a year.

Posted in the ‘Fertility Forum' is an open letter that reads: "Due to the fact that BeautifulPeople.com members are aesthetically blessed, their genetic donation is in high demand. This, combined in some part to a global shortage created by failed government legislation, has created a high demand for new donors."

If you think you might want to donate sperm or lean more about the process, here are some links to sperm banks worldwide:

Australia
Donor Eggs Australia:
http://www.donoreggsaustralia.com.au/contact_us.html

Europe
European Sperm Bank: http://www.europeanspermbank.com
http://www.hopital-dcss.org/accueil.htm

Japan
Hara Medical Clinic: http://www.haramedical.or.jp/conts_info/seisibank.html
Fertility Clinic Tokyo: http://fert-tokyo.jp/

United Kingdom
National Gamete Donation Trust: http://www.ngdt.co.uk
Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority: http://www.hfea.gov.uk

United States
National Directory of Sperm Cryobanks: http://www.spermbankdirectory.com/
SpermCenter.com: http://www.spermcenter.com