Anybody got any extra?
Dwindling supply spurs import of sperm
LONDON (Reuters) - A Scottish hospital Wednesday became the
first in Britain to be allowed to import sperm from abroad to
help deal with the region's severe
shortage of donors.
Glasgow's Royal Infirmary will import sperm from a clinic in
Denmark, where the world's biggest sperm bank is based, after it
said its donors had dwindled from 15 to
just a few out of fear they might lose their anonymity if the
law ever changed.
The crisis prompted the British Human Fertilization and
Embryology Authority (HFEA) to relax its usually tough rules on
sperm imports, though it will insist that the
Danish clinic matches the high safety standards in force in
Britain.
``Our main concern is safety and we spent quite a long time
considering this application ... making sure that any sperm that
is imported meets the same very high
safety conditions as those which pertain to sperm which is
donated in this country,'' HFEA chairman Ruth Deech told BBC
radio.
She said the Danish donors would have to provide information in
line with UK requirements, including their name -- although
under current British law that information
is not be passed on to the patient or child, despite pressure
from various groups that it should be.
Elsewhere in Britain, the shortage is nearly as great, meaning
hundreds of couples seeking fertility treatments have been
forced to wait for sperm donations.
``One in six couples at least in this country is infertile and
sperm donation gives them hope, our job is to make it safe,''
Deech said.
