Nick does not want to know if he has any children

BBC News Online talks to one man who donated as a student - but would not have done so if he could have been identified.

Nick, now 29, signed up along with friends at his Freshers' Fair to act as sperm donors.

He says: "My decision to donate wasn't at all altruistic. I just did it for the money.

"I think I got paid around �12 a time.

I viewed it in the same way as I view donating blood Nick

"Part of the reason I did it was that I knew I would be anonymous - there wouldn't be any repercussions."

"But I only did it twice in the end.

"One of the main reasons for doing it was to get more beer money.

"But then you couldn't really spend the money on beer because there were constraints on donors drinking."

Counselling

He added: "I viewed it in the same way as I view donating blood.

"It was something I'm giving. I don't think there should be any comeback."

Nick said he understood some children might have questions about how they were conceived.

"It's a tricky situation for the child, but for that reason they should get counselling.

"It should be up to their parents to explain what their parentage was. It's not the donor's responsibility."

He said while those in favour of a change may say children wouldn't turn up on donor parent's doorsteps, there was no guarantee that would not happen.

"Once you begin going down the identification path, it will inevitably snowball.

"And there would be moral implications about finding out you were the father of a child."