Shortage of sperm donors despite men willing to donate

Three-quarters (75 percent) of sperm used in UK fertility clinics is imported from overseas, despite British men's apparent willingness to donate.

A new report by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), the charity which publishes BioNews, highlights how – despite an apparent nationwide shortage of sperm donors, driving British clinics and British patients to use overseas donors or else donors sourced online – many men in the UK are in fact open to donating their sperm.

Sarah Norcross, director of PET, said: 'Action needs to be taken so that men's willingness to donate is not wasted. The ability to access donor sperm through a licensed clinic is particularly important given the increase in the use of unregulated online donations, which have resulted in women being exposed to unnecessary risks such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and having children born with genetic conditions.'

Ipsos, commissioned by PET, surveyed 2233 UK adults and discovered that 53 percent of men would be willing to consider donating sperm, with only 20 percent of men indicating that they would never consider this.

In the UK, women are able to obtain donor sperm from licensed NHS or licensed private fertility clinics, which are regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). All donated sperm used at such clinics is screened for STIs and also heritable medical conditions. However, due to the apparent sperm shortage there are long waiting lists, driving patients and clinics to look elsewhere.

Private UK clinics are permitted to import from overseas sperm banks, at a cost of around £950 per vial of sperm, with much of it coming from the US and Denmark.

Private sperm donation arrangements that do not involve a clinic are unregulated, bypassing health checks and potentially leading to uncertainty about who is the legal parent of any resulting children (see BioNews 1146).

Clare Ettinghausen, director of strategy and corporate affairs at the HFEA warned: 'Patients should always use a HFEA licensed clinic when using sperm donors to ensure that all medical and other checks are done, and the correct consents are taken.'

'Importing sperm from regulated sperm banks outside the UK is a perfectly safe and lawful solution to the UK's sperm shortages. However, it suggests the UK has a structural problem in its donor recruitment infrastructure, given that so many men in this survey would consider donating sperm yet don't seem to do so,' said Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield. Professor Pacey is a trustee at PET but was not involved in the research by Ipsos.

The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland launched a campaign last year to encourage people to become sperm and egg donors (see BioNews 1099). PET would now like to see a similar recruitment drive to get men in England to donate sperm to the NHS, urging those aged 18-45 with no health problems to sign up.

'In Scotland there is a clear pathway for donation and there has been a recruitment drive for sperm donors. England needs to learn from this initiative.' said Norcross.

The full report is available here: Fertility, Genomics and Embryo Research: Public Attitudes and Understanding.