Canadian Couple Sues U.S. Sperm Bank For Misrepresentation Of Donor

Canadians Angela Collins and Margaret Elizabeth Hanson thought they were opting for a highly educated man with an “impressive health history” when they selected a donor from a U.S.-based sperm bank to start their family, states The Globe And Mail.

However, now the couple is seeking damages for pain, suffering, and financial losses from the company Xytex Corporation in a lawsuit filed in a Georgia court last week.

Years after the birth of their son, the Port Hope, Ontario, the couple learned that they hadn’t been told their donor was a schizophrenic college dropout with a criminal record, the couple claims.

It could become a “class action lawsuit” – the Canadian couple isn’t the only one affected by the situation, according to Hersh.  The suit states the donor appears to have fathered 36 children and Hersh said she had at least 15 other clients who may join the suit.

More:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-couple-sues-us-sperm-bank-for-alleged-false-donor-details/article23810189/

Are There Benefits To Psychedelic Drugs?

We are currently experiencing a “renaissance” in psychedelic research, as Michael Pollan writes in a recent issue of The New Yorker. Hallucinogenic drugs like psilocybin can be used to treat a range of mental health disorders, from anxiety and addiction to depression, and researchers at the nation’s leading medical schools are studying their full therapeutic potential.

The New Yorker: “Between 1953 and 1973, the federal government spent four million dollars to fund a hundred and sixteen studies of LSD, involving more than seventeen hundred subjects. (These figures don’t include classified research.)

(…)

“Psychedelics were tested on alcoholics, people struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depressives, autistic children, schizophrenics, terminal cancer patients, and convicts, as well as on perfectly healthy artists and scientists (to study creativity) and divinity students (to study spirituality). The results reported were frequently positive…”

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