Ana
No te puedes quedar con todas las conchas bonitas de la playa. (Anne Morrow Lindberg)
Hay cierto futuro por ahí rondando que está hecho de las cosas que no hemos llegado a vivir juntas. Y eso no es malo, eso es la vida. La misma vida que nos regaló un pasado que sí que compartimos y por el que brindo con vino muy rojo en esta noche de domingo. Brindo contigo, mi querida Ana, estés donde estés en estos momentos, quizá a unas cuantas paradas de metro, quizá viajando por el mundo...
Ana fue mi primer amor verdadero, después de un millón o más de nubes de verano e invierno. Desgarbada y preciosa, sexy y muy lista. Se atrevió con todo. Tuvo la primera palabra y la última, el primer beso y el último. Me enseñó a amar y a amarme, me mostró donde estaba la belleza, que era en un lugar distinto del que decían las revistas. Configuró sin darse cuenta mi manera desde entonces de ver mi cuerpo, de verlo bello y poderoso. Me pintó porque es pintora, y para siempre será mío el orgullo de haber sido su musa.
Con ella supe lo que era sentirse realmente amada, y amar tan fuerte que daba miedo. También, e inevitablemente, aprendí lo que era sufrir, llorar, y dejar en el camino un poquito de inocencia.
Tuve que descifrar el rencor, y dejarlo fluír, dejar que saliese por mi piel durante mucho tiempo. Y ella me concedió ese tiempo, y finalmente pudimos tomar una cerveza sin que ello significase que había peligro de incendio.
Quería rendirle aquí a Ana un pequeño homenaje, porque desde que la conocí no he vuelto a enamorarme así. A veces me pregunto si alguna vez sentiré aquellas cosas de nuevo, y llego a la conclusión de que serán distintas. No por ello mejores ni peores, pero sí distintas, porque aunque fuimos dos mujeres de tomo y lomo juntas, también éramos unas niñas, y creíamos con ardor, fervientemente, a capa y espada, en las cosas en las que ahora simplemente creemos.
Ana, ¿recuerdas todas las cartas, y ese cuaderno que te escribí día a día durante un tiempo? ¿Recuerdas aquello que ponía? Aunque pase mucho tiempo y ya no tengamos contacto, recuerda que siempre siempre te querré.
Pues es verdad. Enamorada de otra, ya en ese futuro que una vez tanto temí, aún te conservo en un lugar especial, y tu nombre siempre será un conjuro de meiga, una risa en la lejanía, un guiño cómplice en un momento difícil, un para la eternidad en el planeta de lo efímero.
Hay cierto futuro por ahí rondando que está hecho de las cosas que no hemos llegado a vivir juntas. Y eso no es malo, eso es la vida. La misma vida que nos regaló un pasado que sí que compartimos y por el que brindo con vino muy rojo en esta noche de domingo. Brindo contigo, mi querida Ana, estés donde estés en estos momentos, quizá a unas cuantas paradas de metro, quizá viajando por el mundo...
Ana fue mi primer amor verdadero, después de un millón o más de nubes de verano e invierno. Desgarbada y preciosa, sexy y muy lista. Se atrevió con todo. Tuvo la primera palabra y la última, el primer beso y el último. Me enseñó a amar y a amarme, me mostró donde estaba la belleza, que era en un lugar distinto del que decían las revistas. Configuró sin darse cuenta mi manera desde entonces de ver mi cuerpo, de verlo bello y poderoso. Me pintó porque es pintora, y para siempre será mío el orgullo de haber sido su musa.
Con ella supe lo que era sentirse realmente amada, y amar tan fuerte que daba miedo. También, e inevitablemente, aprendí lo que era sufrir, llorar, y dejar en el camino un poquito de inocencia.
Tuve que descifrar el rencor, y dejarlo fluír, dejar que saliese por mi piel durante mucho tiempo. Y ella me concedió ese tiempo, y finalmente pudimos tomar una cerveza sin que ello significase que había peligro de incendio.
Quería rendirle aquí a Ana un pequeño homenaje, porque desde que la conocí no he vuelto a enamorarme así. A veces me pregunto si alguna vez sentiré aquellas cosas de nuevo, y llego a la conclusión de que serán distintas. No por ello mejores ni peores, pero sí distintas, porque aunque fuimos dos mujeres de tomo y lomo juntas, también éramos unas niñas, y creíamos con ardor, fervientemente, a capa y espada, en las cosas en las que ahora simplemente creemos.
Ana, ¿recuerdas todas las cartas, y ese cuaderno que te escribí día a día durante un tiempo? ¿Recuerdas aquello que ponía? Aunque pase mucho tiempo y ya no tengamos contacto, recuerda que siempre siempre te querré.
Pues es verdad. Enamorada de otra, ya en ese futuro que una vez tanto temí, aún te conservo en un lugar especial, y tu nombre siempre será un conjuro de meiga, una risa en la lejanía, un guiño cómplice en un momento difícil, un para la eternidad en el planeta de lo efímero.
Comentario:
MANNOTINCLUDED.COM IN SPAIN
PRESS RELEASE FROM GWILYM RHYS-JONES
DIRECTOR GENERAL MANNOTINCLUDED (SPAIN) LTD.
I am no longer responsible for the operations of ManNotIncluded.com in Spain that have now effectively been closed down.
The reason for my decision to disassociate myself from ManNotIncluded.com is that the founder John Gonzalez has refused to display a Spanish language web site and I regard this action as an insult to the Spanish people. The lack of a Spanish language web site has made it impossible to develop the company in Spain and I see no reason why Spanish people in Spain should be forced to complete a complicated questionnaire in English to be provided with a service in Spain. There was never even a mention on the web site of the existence of an office in Spain.
I bought the franchise for Spain on the promise by John Gonzalez that a full Spanish language web site would be provided and he has absolutely failed to keep his word.
I shall keep you advised of future developments. I would like to thank you for your interest and support over the months.
Please note my new e-mail address. The telephone numbers remain the same.
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA DE GWILYM RHYS-JONES
DIRECTOR GENERAL MANNOTINCLUDED (SPAIN) LTD.
Por el presente les comunico que ya no soy responsable de la empresa ManNotIncluded.com en España debido al cese de sus actividades en este país.
Me he visto obligado a tomar esta decisión y a romper mis vínculos con ManNotIncluded.com debido a que el fundador John González se ha negado a la creación de una página Web en castellano y considero esta acción como una ofensa a los españoles. La inexistencia de una página Web en castellano ha hecho imposible la expansión de la empresa en España y no veo porque una persona interesada en nuestros servicios tenga que completar formularios complicados en inglés para recibir un servicio en España. Aún más, en la página Web de la empresa ni siquiera se mencionaba la existencia de la empresa en España.
Adquirí la franquicia para España debido a un acuerdo que establecía la creación de una página Web en castellano y esto no ha sido cumplido.
Les mantendré informados de cualquier suceso relevante.
Aprovecho esta ocasión para agradecerles su interés y apoyo en estos últimos meses y abajo les indico mi nueva dirección de e-mail. Los números de teléfonos son los mismos.
Un cordial saludo,
Gwilym Rhys-Jones
E-mail: gwilymr-j@terra.es
Tel: +34 951 31 82 77 Mobile: 699 840 606
1.Feb.2005
PRESS RELEASE FROM GWILYM RHYS-JONES
DIRECTOR GENERAL MANNOTINCLUDED (SPAIN) LTD.
I am no longer responsible for the operations of ManNotIncluded.com in Spain that have now effectively been closed down.
The reason for my decision to disassociate myself from ManNotIncluded.com is that the founder John Gonzalez has refused to display a Spanish language web site and I regard this action as an insult to the Spanish people. The lack of a Spanish language web site has made it impossible to develop the company in Spain and I see no reason why Spanish people in Spain should be forced to complete a complicated questionnaire in English to be provided with a service in Spain. There was never even a mention on the web site of the existence of an office in Spain.
I bought the franchise for Spain on the promise by John Gonzalez that a full Spanish language web site would be provided and he has absolutely failed to keep his word.
I shall keep you advised of future developments. I would like to thank you for your interest and support over the months.
Please note my new e-mail address. The telephone numbers remain the same.
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA DE GWILYM RHYS-JONES
DIRECTOR GENERAL MANNOTINCLUDED (SPAIN) LTD.
Por el presente les comunico que ya no soy responsable de la empresa ManNotIncluded.com en España debido al cese de sus actividades en este país.
Me he visto obligado a tomar esta decisión y a romper mis vínculos con ManNotIncluded.com debido a que el fundador John González se ha negado a la creación de una página Web en castellano y considero esta acción como una ofensa a los españoles. La inexistencia de una página Web en castellano ha hecho imposible la expansión de la empresa en España y no veo porque una persona interesada en nuestros servicios tenga que completar formularios complicados en inglés para recibir un servicio en España. Aún más, en la página Web de la empresa ni siquiera se mencionaba la existencia de la empresa en España.
Adquirí la franquicia para España debido a un acuerdo que establecía la creación de una página Web en castellano y esto no ha sido cumplido.
Les mantendré informados de cualquier suceso relevante.
Aprovecho esta ocasión para agradecerles su interés y apoyo en estos últimos meses y abajo les indico mi nueva dirección de e-mail. Los números de teléfonos son los mismos.
Un cordial saludo,
Gwilym Rhys-Jones
E-mail: gwilymr-j@terra.es
Tel: +34 951 31 82 77 Mobile: 699 840 606
1.Feb.2005
Comentario:
MAIL ON SUNDAY ARTICLE COURTESY OF PINK PARENTS
Morals Not Included
By Matt Nixson and Jo Knowsley
The Mail on Sunday June 20, 2004
A CONTROVERSIAL business that sells sperm to lesbians over the internet is today accused of cruelly misleading its gullible customers - and perhaps exposing them to the risk of AIDS.
Man Not Included, Britain's first online fertility clinic, has routinely flouted the crucial guarantees it makes to clients about both the quality of the sperm it supplies and the background of its donors.
The fast-growing website has already helped dozens of gay couples and desperate single women conceive a child. Grateful clients pay up to £2,000 in return for 'top quality' sperm donated, according to the firm, by men subjected to a rigorous screening process.
But two ex-employees of the website have revealed to The Mail on Sunday that women were consistently supplied with sperm from donors who had few ? or none ? of the physical, social and intellectual characteristics they had specified.
This meant a client who thought she was getting sperm from a fairhaired donor from a professional background might in fact be given sperm from a man who was neither of those things.
Man Not Included also reneged on a guarantee that once a man's sperm had been supplied to a customer, he would be removed from the firm's books during the pregnancy, the former employees claim. And several women received samples from the same man.
This raises the disturbing prospect that people born as a result of the website's 'service' could unwittingly form incestuous sexual relationships with half-brothers or sisters ? a concern intensified by the fact that donors and clients usually lived in the same area.
Most alarmingly, it is claimed that clients were exposed to the risk of AIDS because donors were not given effective health screening for the disease.
When contacted by The Mail on Sunday, the firm denied that it had misled its clients - but admitted there might have been some minor teething troubles. However, last night MPs raised serious concerns about the controversial agency and trading standards officers announced an inquiry.
Former Man Not Included salesman Mike Black told The Mail on Sunday: 'I am sorry I ever got involved. Our customers were desperate to have babies and we exploited them. There is a good chance some will have babies that are different from what they wanted. And several might even be in danger.' Man Not Included was set up in June 2002 by former City headhunter John Gonzalez and is run from a first-floor office in Harley Street, London. He spotted a loophole in the law that bans clinics from dealing in frozen sperm without a licence, yet allows the supply of fresh sperm.
The website, clearly targeted at lesbians and defiantly politically correct, claims to have already enabled 60 women to have babies. The firm arranges for sperm to be delivered by courier for artificial insemination by the clients themselves. But because it is fresh sperm it cannot be screened for HIV which has a three-month incubation period during which it will not show up in health tests. Former staff also insist that the firm broke a promise to regularly test each donor for disease.
Mr Black, who quit the company last year after becoming increasingly concerned at its practices, said his job was to encourage women to sign up to packages costing £800 and upwards.
'I was telling people on John Gonzalez's orders that once a donor was chosen by a client, he was removed from the website's database to prevent other women selecting him.
'In practice, once Man Not Included had a donor signed up, and successfully screened for fertility and disease, they would try to use him as much as possible to save money by avoiding extra testing costs. 'We had something like 3,000 potential donors on the site but only around 80 were regularly used to supply more than 250 women.
Repeat testing simply didn't take place as an official policy.
'We were concerned we might be sending infected sperm out and on one occasion, before I left, we paid for some retesting to take place without John's knowledge.
'Clients had three choices of donor - if their first didn't come back clear from health testing, we were supposed to test the second donor then their third choice to see if they were capable of donating.
But in practice, we were ordered to simply tell the client their original choice was OK then substitute him for another who'd already passed the health tests.' He added: 'You could easily have the nightmare scenario that one prolific donor could be fathering multiple children in the same area.
'Donors had to live within an hour of clients, otherwise the sperm dies in transit so you could have children going to the same schools as half-brothers and sisters without ever knowing it.
'Providing donors were of the right ethnic background which was the one characteristic John would never mess with and lived within an hour's drive, they would be asked to donate there and then.' The Mail on Sunday can also reveal that Man Not Included deceived women who paid for their donor's sperm to be cryogenically frozen in case they wanted more children with the same genetic father in the future.
Mr Black said: 'One of the packages offered included the freezing of sperm. The donor was supposed to visit a cryobank every couple of weeks to build up a sperm bank for the client's future use.
'But there was no cryobank and when I left a number of women were demanding their frozen sperm so they could start their insemination procedures - but it didn't exist.' Other failings include shoddy deliveries of sperm samples.
Sperm samples -which must be used within an hour - often arrived late, cold and, in one astonishing lapse, delivered in a flask containing dregs of coffee.
The company also failed to keep the identity of donors secret from clients. On a number of occasions, their names and addresses were accidentally left on flasks used to deliver the sperm samples to customers. Nor was there proper vetting of potential donors.
Stella Murphy, 23, who worked as Gonzalez's personal assistant before quitting with Mike Black last year, said last night: 'We had constant complaints of botched deliveries and problems with donors. 'It was always a case of getting the cash into the bank as fast as possible. Clients were looking for donors with good qualifications, good health and the right background. 'But in reality, donors could claim they had 12 GCSEs, five A-Levels, three degrees and looked like Brad Pitt and no one would know otherwise. We never checked and most never even came into the office. It was the same with their medical history which they were asked about. These couldn't be checked. How could we? Patient records are confidential-We had to take everything at face value.
'More worryingly, there was never any way of proving the person donating the sperm was the person actually chosen to donate. It could have been anyone: flatmates, friends, family.' The company is now facing a growing number of complaints from unhappy customers. Sarah, a 25-year-old from York, said: 'When we first chose our donor we were adamant he should not be a redhead. 'I just didn't want a child with ginger hair. We chose a 27-year-old website designer with brown hair and living in Leeds and were given a reference number to identify him.
'Later when we asked Man Not Included for the results of our donor's health check they sent us details of a completely different man - he was from Manchester and had ginger hair. 'We were devastated. And when one sample arrived it was inside a tub in a flask and there was coffee in the flask.' Another couple have agreed an out-of-court settlement with John Gonzalez after taking Man Not Included to the small claims court following a series of disastrous attempts to get pregnant.
They said: 'We paid something like £900 and we were told sperm would be frozen for our future use but we have no evidence this happened.' Another customer, Carla, 21, an administrator from Essex, said: 'The costs kept going up. We spent something like £1,500 and had no luck getting pregnant. 'They just kept trying to sell us new packages but the ones we paid for turned up late, cold and on the wrong days.'
Midwife Gail Graham, 47, worked as a volunteer for Man Not Included before quitting in disgust. She told The Mail on Sunday: 'It was just a moneymaking machine, pure and simple. John sold it as a crusade on behalf of lesbians but he seemed to be just interested in the cash. On one occasion I even heard John refer disparagingly to clients as dykes.' In February Mr Gonzalez provoked fresh controversy by launching a second internet venture - Woman Not Included, which offers infertile women, including single women and lesbians, the chance to buy eggs from anonymous overseas donors at a potential cost of thousands of pounds.
In a detailed response to his former employees' allegations, Mr Gonzalez denied individual donors had been used to supply sperm to many different women. He said: 'We have a policy that any donor will only be allowed three live births which is seven less than is allowed through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
'We can produce a paper trail for every donor we have used. When someone selects a donor and that donor is not available, then they are given the opportunity to select another donor.' When pressed further on whether sperm from one donor had been supplied to many different women, Mr Gonzalez said: 'If that has happened, it has been done without my knowledge and against company policy.' He also claimed donors were repeatedly retested for HIV, adding: 'Every single one is tested and retested every ten weeks to the day. We do have a full paper trail so if you publish anything to do with that I will sue your arse.' Mr Gonzalez initially denied offering the frozen sperm service until confronted with evidence from his website. Then he claimed: 'We were in discussions to try and freeze our donors' sperm but unfortunately the person we were working with tragically died of a heart attack.' He added: 'We are a brand new organisation and rely on third party services which is why we provide cost-effective services. 'If a delivery is 20 minutes late, that's because the courier company has been stuck in traffic. We take medical advice and the fact that we have almost 60 conceptions and babies delivered shows it does work.' Mr Gonzalez also claimed not to run Man Not Included, although he conceded he was the founder, owner and brainchild of the company. And he insisted: 'We are the only organisation that demands two forms of identification, not only for our donors but also for our recipients.' The website includes a lengthy legal disclaimer advising potential customers that the firm is an introduction service only, and cannot guarantee that donor sperm is free of infection.
Lisa Saffron, of the lesbian, gay and bisexual parenting group PinkParents, said last night: 'We strongly advise lesbians not to use Man Not Included. It is an irresponsible, unregulated service offering fresh sperm from anonymous donors. 'There is no way that Man Not Included can guarantee the donors are who they say they are, nor can they guarantee sperm safety. A man may become infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases the day after screening.'
Josephine Quintavalle, director of the fertility watchdog Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: 'The chances of siblings meeting in small communities must be reasonably high. The worst case would be these children meeting, falling in love and having their own kids and the ethical and medical complications that might result.' Last night Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said: 'The Mail on Sunday's research has raised some very disturbing questions which need answering.
'It is clear this business is both risky to the health of the women who are buying sperm and raises serious ethical issues. The Government needs to urgently consider an inquiry.' Conservative shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: 'I shall be asking Ministers to establish an inquiry into whether these activities should be regulated.' And the head of Westminster Council's trading standards team, Sue Jones, promised to investigate the allegations against Man Not Included and urged dissatisfied clients to contact them on 020 7641 1111.
HAVE you been a donor or client of Man Not Included? Please email Matt.Nixson@mailonsunday.co.uk in confidence or write to Matt Nixson, The Mail on Sunday, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS.
Morals Not Included
By Matt Nixson and Jo Knowsley
The Mail on Sunday June 20, 2004
A CONTROVERSIAL business that sells sperm to lesbians over the internet is today accused of cruelly misleading its gullible customers - and perhaps exposing them to the risk of AIDS.
Man Not Included, Britain's first online fertility clinic, has routinely flouted the crucial guarantees it makes to clients about both the quality of the sperm it supplies and the background of its donors.
The fast-growing website has already helped dozens of gay couples and desperate single women conceive a child. Grateful clients pay up to £2,000 in return for 'top quality' sperm donated, according to the firm, by men subjected to a rigorous screening process.
But two ex-employees of the website have revealed to The Mail on Sunday that women were consistently supplied with sperm from donors who had few ? or none ? of the physical, social and intellectual characteristics they had specified.
This meant a client who thought she was getting sperm from a fairhaired donor from a professional background might in fact be given sperm from a man who was neither of those things.
Man Not Included also reneged on a guarantee that once a man's sperm had been supplied to a customer, he would be removed from the firm's books during the pregnancy, the former employees claim. And several women received samples from the same man.
This raises the disturbing prospect that people born as a result of the website's 'service' could unwittingly form incestuous sexual relationships with half-brothers or sisters ? a concern intensified by the fact that donors and clients usually lived in the same area.
Most alarmingly, it is claimed that clients were exposed to the risk of AIDS because donors were not given effective health screening for the disease.
When contacted by The Mail on Sunday, the firm denied that it had misled its clients - but admitted there might have been some minor teething troubles. However, last night MPs raised serious concerns about the controversial agency and trading standards officers announced an inquiry.
Former Man Not Included salesman Mike Black told The Mail on Sunday: 'I am sorry I ever got involved. Our customers were desperate to have babies and we exploited them. There is a good chance some will have babies that are different from what they wanted. And several might even be in danger.' Man Not Included was set up in June 2002 by former City headhunter John Gonzalez and is run from a first-floor office in Harley Street, London. He spotted a loophole in the law that bans clinics from dealing in frozen sperm without a licence, yet allows the supply of fresh sperm.
The website, clearly targeted at lesbians and defiantly politically correct, claims to have already enabled 60 women to have babies. The firm arranges for sperm to be delivered by courier for artificial insemination by the clients themselves. But because it is fresh sperm it cannot be screened for HIV which has a three-month incubation period during which it will not show up in health tests. Former staff also insist that the firm broke a promise to regularly test each donor for disease.
Mr Black, who quit the company last year after becoming increasingly concerned at its practices, said his job was to encourage women to sign up to packages costing £800 and upwards.
'I was telling people on John Gonzalez's orders that once a donor was chosen by a client, he was removed from the website's database to prevent other women selecting him.
'In practice, once Man Not Included had a donor signed up, and successfully screened for fertility and disease, they would try to use him as much as possible to save money by avoiding extra testing costs. 'We had something like 3,000 potential donors on the site but only around 80 were regularly used to supply more than 250 women.
Repeat testing simply didn't take place as an official policy.
'We were concerned we might be sending infected sperm out and on one occasion, before I left, we paid for some retesting to take place without John's knowledge.
'Clients had three choices of donor - if their first didn't come back clear from health testing, we were supposed to test the second donor then their third choice to see if they were capable of donating.
But in practice, we were ordered to simply tell the client their original choice was OK then substitute him for another who'd already passed the health tests.' He added: 'You could easily have the nightmare scenario that one prolific donor could be fathering multiple children in the same area.
'Donors had to live within an hour of clients, otherwise the sperm dies in transit so you could have children going to the same schools as half-brothers and sisters without ever knowing it.
'Providing donors were of the right ethnic background which was the one characteristic John would never mess with and lived within an hour's drive, they would be asked to donate there and then.' The Mail on Sunday can also reveal that Man Not Included deceived women who paid for their donor's sperm to be cryogenically frozen in case they wanted more children with the same genetic father in the future.
Mr Black said: 'One of the packages offered included the freezing of sperm. The donor was supposed to visit a cryobank every couple of weeks to build up a sperm bank for the client's future use.
'But there was no cryobank and when I left a number of women were demanding their frozen sperm so they could start their insemination procedures - but it didn't exist.' Other failings include shoddy deliveries of sperm samples.
Sperm samples -which must be used within an hour - often arrived late, cold and, in one astonishing lapse, delivered in a flask containing dregs of coffee.
The company also failed to keep the identity of donors secret from clients. On a number of occasions, their names and addresses were accidentally left on flasks used to deliver the sperm samples to customers. Nor was there proper vetting of potential donors.
Stella Murphy, 23, who worked as Gonzalez's personal assistant before quitting with Mike Black last year, said last night: 'We had constant complaints of botched deliveries and problems with donors. 'It was always a case of getting the cash into the bank as fast as possible. Clients were looking for donors with good qualifications, good health and the right background. 'But in reality, donors could claim they had 12 GCSEs, five A-Levels, three degrees and looked like Brad Pitt and no one would know otherwise. We never checked and most never even came into the office. It was the same with their medical history which they were asked about. These couldn't be checked. How could we? Patient records are confidential-We had to take everything at face value.
'More worryingly, there was never any way of proving the person donating the sperm was the person actually chosen to donate. It could have been anyone: flatmates, friends, family.' The company is now facing a growing number of complaints from unhappy customers. Sarah, a 25-year-old from York, said: 'When we first chose our donor we were adamant he should not be a redhead. 'I just didn't want a child with ginger hair. We chose a 27-year-old website designer with brown hair and living in Leeds and were given a reference number to identify him.
'Later when we asked Man Not Included for the results of our donor's health check they sent us details of a completely different man - he was from Manchester and had ginger hair. 'We were devastated. And when one sample arrived it was inside a tub in a flask and there was coffee in the flask.' Another couple have agreed an out-of-court settlement with John Gonzalez after taking Man Not Included to the small claims court following a series of disastrous attempts to get pregnant.
They said: 'We paid something like £900 and we were told sperm would be frozen for our future use but we have no evidence this happened.' Another customer, Carla, 21, an administrator from Essex, said: 'The costs kept going up. We spent something like £1,500 and had no luck getting pregnant. 'They just kept trying to sell us new packages but the ones we paid for turned up late, cold and on the wrong days.'
Midwife Gail Graham, 47, worked as a volunteer for Man Not Included before quitting in disgust. She told The Mail on Sunday: 'It was just a moneymaking machine, pure and simple. John sold it as a crusade on behalf of lesbians but he seemed to be just interested in the cash. On one occasion I even heard John refer disparagingly to clients as dykes.' In February Mr Gonzalez provoked fresh controversy by launching a second internet venture - Woman Not Included, which offers infertile women, including single women and lesbians, the chance to buy eggs from anonymous overseas donors at a potential cost of thousands of pounds.
In a detailed response to his former employees' allegations, Mr Gonzalez denied individual donors had been used to supply sperm to many different women. He said: 'We have a policy that any donor will only be allowed three live births which is seven less than is allowed through the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
'We can produce a paper trail for every donor we have used. When someone selects a donor and that donor is not available, then they are given the opportunity to select another donor.' When pressed further on whether sperm from one donor had been supplied to many different women, Mr Gonzalez said: 'If that has happened, it has been done without my knowledge and against company policy.' He also claimed donors were repeatedly retested for HIV, adding: 'Every single one is tested and retested every ten weeks to the day. We do have a full paper trail so if you publish anything to do with that I will sue your arse.' Mr Gonzalez initially denied offering the frozen sperm service until confronted with evidence from his website. Then he claimed: 'We were in discussions to try and freeze our donors' sperm but unfortunately the person we were working with tragically died of a heart attack.' He added: 'We are a brand new organisation and rely on third party services which is why we provide cost-effective services. 'If a delivery is 20 minutes late, that's because the courier company has been stuck in traffic. We take medical advice and the fact that we have almost 60 conceptions and babies delivered shows it does work.' Mr Gonzalez also claimed not to run Man Not Included, although he conceded he was the founder, owner and brainchild of the company. And he insisted: 'We are the only organisation that demands two forms of identification, not only for our donors but also for our recipients.' The website includes a lengthy legal disclaimer advising potential customers that the firm is an introduction service only, and cannot guarantee that donor sperm is free of infection.
Lisa Saffron, of the lesbian, gay and bisexual parenting group PinkParents, said last night: 'We strongly advise lesbians not to use Man Not Included. It is an irresponsible, unregulated service offering fresh sperm from anonymous donors. 'There is no way that Man Not Included can guarantee the donors are who they say they are, nor can they guarantee sperm safety. A man may become infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases the day after screening.'
Josephine Quintavalle, director of the fertility watchdog Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: 'The chances of siblings meeting in small communities must be reasonably high. The worst case would be these children meeting, falling in love and having their own kids and the ethical and medical complications that might result.' Last night Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said: 'The Mail on Sunday's research has raised some very disturbing questions which need answering.
'It is clear this business is both risky to the health of the women who are buying sperm and raises serious ethical issues. The Government needs to urgently consider an inquiry.' Conservative shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: 'I shall be asking Ministers to establish an inquiry into whether these activities should be regulated.' And the head of Westminster Council's trading standards team, Sue Jones, promised to investigate the allegations against Man Not Included and urged dissatisfied clients to contact them on 020 7641 1111.
HAVE you been a donor or client of Man Not Included? Please email Matt.Nixson@mailonsunday.co.uk in confidence or write to Matt Nixson, The Mail on Sunday, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS.
Comentario:
Hola,
Me gustaría intercambiar links de vuestro sitio Web con el nuestro.
ManNotIncluded.com es el primer y único servicio de donación y entrega anónimo y confidencial de esperma fresca del mundo, que ahora está disponible en España con su correspondiente página Web en castellano.
La oficina general se encuentra en el 138 de Harley Street, Londres W1G 7LA. Nuestro servicio no es discriminatorio y está disponible para todas aquellas mujeres interesadas, ya sean lesbianas, estén casadas o sean solteras – la única limitación siendo de edad.
ManNotIncluded.com fue fundado en el Reino Unido hace dos años y ya está presente también en Holanda, Alemania, Noruega y Suecia. La pagina Web se encuentra disponible también en alemán y noruego.
Con ManNotincluded.com veinticuatro mujeres han realizado su sueño de tener un bebé y ochenta y cuatro mujeres más se encuentran embarazadas.
Un cordial saludo,
Gwilym Rhys-Jones
Director General España
Teléfono fijo: +(34) 951 31 82 77
Teléfono móvil: 699 840 606
E-mail: gwilymr-j@mannotincluded.com
Comentario:
Y es que si me pongo a pensar en tu primera frase... hay ciertos muchos futuros por ahí rondando, y a dónde se van? A la siguiente vida? A un mundo paralelo de futuros perdidos nuestros que viven independiente y secretamente? A ver si los encontramos alguna vez... O tal vez ellos están mejor allí.
Comentario:
Cada vez que leo cosas tan hermosas como ésta, me doy más cuenta de que realmente, nunca he amado; habré querido, pero nunca amado.
Un beso, niña.
Un beso, niña.
Comentario:
Yo descreo de la bondad del primer amor. Pienso que todos los demás enamoramientos son mejores, más auténticos, más profundos... El primero hay que vivirlo para tener recuerdos...y para escribir post tan hermosos como éste.
Comentario:
Hola guapa;
dicen que no hay amor como el primera, y guardame el secreto, pero hasta el momento no he vuelto a encontrar uno igual, él significó un antes y un después en mi vida...y de los que le siguen, lamentablemente no puedo decir todavía lo mismo, un besazo ;)
dicen que no hay amor como el primera, y guardame el secreto, pero hasta el momento no he vuelto a encontrar uno igual, él significó un antes y un después en mi vida...y de los que le siguen, lamentablemente no puedo decir todavía lo mismo, un besazo ;)
Comentario:
Yo también he recordado a Ana inevitablemente después de nuestro reencuentro. A Ana contigo o más bien a tí con Ana. Recuerdo también lo enamorada que estabas, tal vez no por ser el primer amor, sino por ser el primero materializado y real y cotidiano y ...compartido de veras; compartiendo lo que ello conlleva y además espacio y lugares comunes con gente común, con amigos comunes. Vida en común y horizonte en común, porque qué es el amor sino sobretodo un horizonte, un llevar allá la vista con la mano sobre la frente, avistando.
Porque también recuerdo alguien anterior (y entonces sí que eras una cría) que acaso fue la primera angustia, el primer contacto con algo más oscuro y que quizás no fuese amor, pero que marca al fin y al cabo.
Yo estoy convencidísima, y no por buena, inocente esperanza, sino porque el presente debe ser siempre más poderoso aunque el pasado sea lo único que verdaderamente ha existido, y el futuro en relidad es inexistente, que amarás incluso con más intensidad (claro que distinto) si cabe.
Brinda pues por todas las Anas que pueden estar esperando a la vuelta de cualquier esquina.
Besos amor.
Porque también recuerdo alguien anterior (y entonces sí que eras una cría) que acaso fue la primera angustia, el primer contacto con algo más oscuro y que quizás no fuese amor, pero que marca al fin y al cabo.
Yo estoy convencidísima, y no por buena, inocente esperanza, sino porque el presente debe ser siempre más poderoso aunque el pasado sea lo único que verdaderamente ha existido, y el futuro en relidad es inexistente, que amarás incluso con más intensidad (claro que distinto) si cabe.
Brinda pues por todas las Anas que pueden estar esperando a la vuelta de cualquier esquina.
Besos amor.
Comentario:
Nunca se quiere igual, porque somos distintas a cada paso que damos. ¿Enamorarse? Con el tiempo acabé entendiendo que mantenerse en esa nube no es muy recomendable... Amar intensamente es otra cosa, sí.