New UK sperm donors cost £6,250 each, say campaign critics

Critics of a UK campaign to encourage more people to donate eggs and sperm say that each new sperm donor recruited so far has cost the Government £ 6,250, the Daily Telegraph reports. From January to May, the £300,000 'Give Life, Give Hope' campaign has resulted in 486 calls to the donor information line, of which 237 have been potential sperm donors and the rest potential egg donors. Linda Sheahan, of the London-based Louis Hughes fertility clinic, described the response as 'not very successful', and said that the money would have been better spent on television and radio adverts.

British people conceived using donated egg, sperm or embryos will be able to ask for identifying information about the donor when they reach the age of 18, following a law change that came into force on 1 April 2005. At the time, fertility experts welcomed the move towards openness, but expressed fears that the legislation would worsen the current shortage of donors in the UK. The number of men donating sperm has reportedly fallen from 544 between 1991 and 1992, to 222 between 2002 and 2003.

A Department of Health spokesman said that although calls to the helpline were one indication of the campaign's success, it had also resulted in media coverage and donors contacting clinics directly. 'The campaign funds cannot be broken down into a cost per donor', he said, adding 'it is about raising awareness'.

Laura Witjens, chair of the National Gamete Donation Trust, told BioNews that 'the aim of the campaign was to raise awareness of the urgent need for men and women to consider becoming gamete donors, and we have most certainly succeeded in that. Many clinics have reported a marked increase in enquiries from prospective donors since the campaign began in January.' She also said that callers are already aware of the removal of anonymity, and that male callers have typically been fathers aged 20-45, whom the campaign aimed to target. 'The Department of Health campaign funding runs until 2006 and this is by no means the end of the drive to recruit donors. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will also be reporting in the next few months on the rules for payment to donors, and we are awaiting policy announcements on various other issues, the outcomes of which will hopefully facilitate new donor recruitment further', she said.

To find out more about becoming a sperm or egg donor, call the National Gamete Donation Trust's confidential helpline on 0845 2269193