The Department of Health (DOH) is drafting a regulation that would allow grown-up test-tube babies to know if they are biologically related to the person they are about to marry.
Test-tube babies conceived from egg or sperm donors do not know the identity of one of their biological parents. If the draft to a provision deriving from the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (
Those records could then be submitted to the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP), which would double-check the list against the name of the egg or sperm donor.
In order to protect the identity of egg and sperm donors, couples would receive no information beyond whether or not they were related.
Although in theory the provision would solve the potential problem of close relatives marrying because of the unknown maternity or paternity of some test-tube babies, it could be that many won't even know they have that option.
"There is no law compelling parents to inform their children that they used an egg or sperm donor," said Wu Shiow-ing (吳秀英), deputy director general of the BHP, yesterday. "Many decide not to tell their children."
The check for relatedness is voluntary.
"It is up to the individual couple whether they want to take the chance," she said.
There are three others provisions in the draft which deals with different aspects of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act. They relate to the compensation of egg and sperm donors, the establishment of sperm banks and the qualification criteria for fertility centers.
According to a DOH official, the draft will be forwarded to the Executive Yuan for final approval.
Should the Executive Yuan approve it, the provisions are predicted to go into effect at the end of next month, Wu said.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we