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Sperm bank looking for a few good men

Even after raising the amount it pays, China's largest sperm bank is reporting a dwindling number of donors, at a time when scientists say that the mainland's infertility rate is catching up with the developed world.

The Reproductive and Genetic Hospital of Citic-Xiangya in Changsha , Hunan , supplies more than 70 per cent of its top-grade sperm to the mainland's 29 approved reproduction centres.

But after 30 years in operation, it is having trouble recruiting donors.

Dr Zhu Wenbing , associate researcher at the hospital and manager of the sperm bank, said that the main reasons there were fewer sperm donors were rising affluence - because people found financial compensation for their sperm less attractive - and conservative attitudes of men on the mainland towards sexual activity.

Only three of every 1,000 targeted donors are willing to come forward, and Zhu feared that the situation would worsen because social mores limited the sperm bank's promotional work to an underground network.

Zhu said the sperm bank had recruited only 500 qualified donors this year, compared with 600 the year before. The bank currently has only 53,000 test tubes of sperm (which it keeps frozen at minus 196 degrees Celsius), little more than 25 per cent of its capacity of 200,000 tubes.

He said that not many Hunan university students found the idea of donating sperm very appealing.

'In the past, most of our student donors were of rural background, who saw the sperm donation compensation as a means to help pay for their studies,' Zhu said.

'But rising affluence means students no longer covet the compensation. Even though we have already raised the compensation, from 200 yuan [HK$225] to 250 yuan recently, it's still very difficult to attract donors.

'It's virtually impossible for sperm banks in rich cities like Beijing and Shanghai to maintain enough sperm deposit.'

The president of the reproductive hospital, Dr Lu Guangxiu , said that it was difficult to attract sperm donors in China.

'We are spreading the word, telling people sperm donation is just donating your cells on humanitarian grounds to patients in need, but most do not think like that,' she said.

Lu's father, Dr Lu Huilin, pioneered the mainland's test-tube baby technology.

To ensure healthy sperm with quality genes and to prevent mental defects, the centre targets university students from year two to doctorate level in the province.

Infertility is a growing problem in China. Although no official nationwide survey on the mainland has been made available, experts at the China International Summit Forum on Infertility held in Beijing in August put the nation's infertility rate at 12.5 per cent, affecting about 40 million couples of childbearing age. The rates in countries in the developed world range from 15 to 20 per cent.

This year's Investigative Report on the Current State of Infertility in China, released during the summit and commissioned by the Population Association of China, found a significant decline of average sperm counts among mainland men.

It found sperm counts of mainland men had declined from about 100 million sperm per millilitre 40 years ago to about 20 to 40 million in recent years.

The Changsha sperm bank was set up in 1981 by the younger Lu, who modelled it on a sperm bank for cows near Beijing.

'Giving sperm in China is unlike donating blood; we have to recruit students in a low-profile way by making the rounds in dormitories. This makes our work extra hard,' she said.

'Sperm donation is very secretive, as many do not feel it's something to be proud of. Donors' identities are also strictly protected.

'If others are aware these students are making sperm donations before building their families, it can affect their marriages, as it contradicts Chinese people's traditional family values.

'We have had 30 years of experience doing it, but we are still running into so many difficulties.'

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