Federal regulations make importing frozen human eggs for fertility treatments easier than bringing chicken eggs across the border, experts say.

The reproductive material — labelled as "frozen ooyctes" — travels in specially cooled tanks and, unlike human sperm, the eggs are not required to undergo screening or testing by Canadian authorities.

"Health Canada's semen regulations are one of the strictest semen regulations in the world," said Haimant Bissesser, president of Can-Am Cryoservices, a human sperm importer based in Hamilton, Ont. "It differs from the U.S. regulations and it's very stringent."

Health Canada needs to move to regulate frozen human eggs the same way frozen human sperm is, Dr. Arthur Leader says. (CBC)

Regulations for importing frozen semen include six pages of testing documentation required by Health Canada showing the specimen is free of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Sperm donors face the same exclusion criteria as blood donors. If a male donor passes the screening, his semen is quarantined; Health Canada requires every ejaculate to be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Regulatory gap

Most experts interviewed by CBC News agreed the same type of rules should apply to frozen eggs, which also carry a risk of infectious and genetic diseases.

At the Ottawa Fertility Centre, frozen eggs aren't used to help women to conceive because doctors can't be assured of their safety, said Dr. Arthur Leader.

"There's a gap that exists between what's happening in medical practice with the use of frozen eggs and the screening for the safety and efficacy of those eggs," said Leader, who worked with the regulator and the Canadian Standards Association to establish standards for all reproductive tissue, including eggs.

"That's the place that Health Canada has both the ability and the authority to step in."

The federal government has yet to issue standards for eggs.

In the poultry industry, importing chicken eggs from the U.S. requires inspections and documentation intended to protect both birds and humans.

"There are a lot of rules and regulations," said Margaret Hudson, president of Burnbrae Farms in Toronto.

"Canada has some of the highest food safety standards in the world, and we want to make sure that the eggs that come into Canada meet those standards."

With files from the CBC's Kelly Crowe