By William Heisel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, January 3, 2008

Troubled by the health history and backgrounds of some anonymous egg and sperm donors, leaders in the fertility industry have said in recent weeks that they would create a national registry to track donors and birth outcomes.

In response to a Dec. 9 article in The Times about a child born with a terminal genetic disease, representatives from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, a fertility industry organization, said they intend to record the histories of donors and surrogate mothers to help prevent such tragedies.