I was really poor in college.
It was a struggle to find money for my insanely low rent five person house.
So inevitably, I looked up how to donate sperm…
// They'll pay you for this?!
Sup guys, Trace here for DNews to talk about the awkwardly fascinating topic of sperm banks.
We've had a lot of conversation about genetically modifying human embryos and gametes to create
superbabies, but what about the vintage version of that: sperm selection.
In 1952, doctors in Iowa learned to freeze and re-animate sperm cells; something which
could help families conceive -- a year later, three babies were born from thawed sperm.
Sperm banks is a general name for the place men go to donate this sperm, and then have
it frozen and used for in-vitro fertilization later.
IVF is a 60 billion dollar-a-year industry, and according to the American Society for
Reproductive Medicine, in 2012, in-vitro fertilization accounted for 1.5% of ALL births in the U.S.
or about 3.95 million wee babes -- that includes partner donation as well as sperm banks.
But because IVF can pull from the banks, some donors end up fathering many offspring -- though
it's not like the movies, the upper mathematical limit is about 30 pregnancies per year.
80-percent of the donors are doing it for the cash according to TIME magazine -- some
are paid as much as $100 per… um, donation.
The thing is, it's not really easy to become a donor!
It's not just any geek off the street, you gotta be handy with the steel, know what I
mean?
Earn your keep!
There are over 500 different banks in the U.S., and they have different rules in each
bank and in different states, but in general the screening can be intense.
In California, only 5 to 10 percent of men qualify for donation.
Banks want to make sure the sperm are quality, so they an initial sample for motility, morphology,
cell count, and so on.
They also test to ensure they can reanimate after the freezing process.
If volunteers pass that, they check a family medical history, test donor's blood and urine
to look for intravenous drug use, HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and Hepatitis B and
C. The FDA also tests for some genetic disorders, like cystic fibrosis,.
But the FDA doesn't require screening for genetic disorders, or regulate sperm banks
in any way, so there's no consistency.
Some banks will do a full genetic workup, whereas others only test cystic fibrosis,
sickle-cell disease, or blood-related problems.
But even if you're the perfect donor, medically, you can still be denied for the most shallow
reasons ever…
The NIH found most rejections were for low sperm motility but you may be rejected if
you're under 5 foot 7 (1.7M) -- some require 5-eleven (1.8M!), or if you have dark skin
-- because most IVF families are white.
If you're a homosexual man (or have had sex with other men in general) you're not able
to donate.
Sperm banks pay more for PhD students or Ivy Leaguers.
Why?
Because potential recipients are paying a lot of money to pick their ideal IVF candidate,
and even if it's anonymous (which it isn't always) they'll still be given the donors
height, hair color, eye color, education level, and even told if they're a celebrity look-alike.
Some sperm banks also ask about salary, familial baldness, taste in clothing, even hobbies.
Even with all the screening, the lack of regulation means donor information can be, and HAS been,
misrepresented to recipients.
One couple in Atlanta is suing a sperm bank saying they've discovered the donor who was
described as having a master's in Neuroscience, an IQ of 160, and an impressive health history;
was really a schizophrenic, college dropout with a burglary arrest record.
The Journal of Pediatrics published a case in 2006 detailing how one sperm donor passed
on a rare genetic disorder called congenital neutropenia, or Kostmann Syndrome, and another
from in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2009 wrote about a 23-year-old
donor who passed on a potentially fatal congenital heart condition to 9 children including one
who died; all because genetic testing wasn't done.
For people who donate to sperm banks, it would seem the incentive is clear, they're paid
for their ejaculate, but since there's no regulation it's sort of like the wild, wild,
west in there!
Have you ever been a donor?
Did you know someone who was?
Tell us about the experience, I'm super curious!
It's such a crazy process.
I've been searching through your science questions and saving some of them to make videos!
There are some AWESOME ones, but there are also ones we've already done!
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