Blog written by CLI Director of Operations Michelle Ottey, PhD

Working in Donor Sperm is a serious business. It is a highly regulated and regimented working environment where days are filled with strict protocols, processes, paper work, screening, and quality assurance. It takes a commitment to quality and attention to detail to do it successfully. On the other side of this is you: the client who is looking for a donor to start or build your family. Choosing the right donor for you is a unique experience and very dependent on your situation. For infertile couples it can be highly emotional and often difficult because you are dealing with medical infertility, your role within your relationship, and grieving. Single women and lesbian couples also have significant emotional issues related to the conception of their children from making the initial decision to have a child through the issues surrounding the need to bring in a third party to conceive.

Though there is a significant seriousness to this process, having a sense of humor and looking at things with an open mind and lightness can help make choosing a donor, dare I say, FUN.

These donors; wonderful interesting men, are providing half of your prospective child’s genetics. And though we do not know how much of our personalities are hard wired, it seems smart to choose a donor not just for his ethnicity or height, but also for his interests and academic achievement.

Often times, when starting the donor search, people “know what they are looking for” but come out on the other side with something quite different. You will find, as you navigate through donor search engines that it is easy to identify men who meet height, weight, blood type, or even education credentials that you require. You will also find that it is now easier to find men with common interests in academic subjects, artistic or culinary skills, or the same favorite animal! Looking for these types of personality traits and interests is fascinating and allows patients to connect to the whole picture of what could be passed on to your child. You will be able to hear the donor talk about his favorite games from his childhood or listen to him describe his favorite character from his favorite book. This type of information gives you real insight into the kind of person he is rather than just seeing test scores or type of degree which is less revealing and less personal.

Not everyone is interested in this in depth information, and for those people there are more basic donor searches. The best Cryobanks allow clients and patients to get as much or as little personal information as they feel comfortable knowing. And the best Cryobanks have diverse pools of highly qualified donors for you to choose from in your quest to start or build your family.

Blog written by CLI Director of Operations Michelle Ottey, PhD

Which of the following statements are true?

1. Sperm Banks test their donors for a panel of infectious diseases every few months.

2. Sperm Banks have to do testing on the specimen cups to ensure no negative effect on the sperm.

3. Sperm Banks thoroughly interview and screen men so rigorously that typically less that 1% of applicants make it into donor programs.

4. Donor applicants are excluded from donating if they do not know their family medical history.

All of those statements are true and are just the tip of the regulatory iceberg. This is why I am always surprised when I see comments in the media about Sperm Banking being unregulated and having no accountability. I thought I would take this opportunity to provide some information on sperm banking regulations.

On 5/25/2005 the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations on Reproductive Tissue Banking took effect. The specific document is 21 CFR Part 1271. This focuses on the standards for screening and testing donors, proper documentation, and donor eligibility. All sperm banks undergo routine audits for compliance by the FDA via on-site inspections. These in depth and rigorous inspections are conducted by highly trained FDA auditors. Having been through several of these inspections, I can tell you that they leave no stone unturned and are often a great opportunity for banks to further develop their best practices.

Additionally, most major sperm banks are also licensed and inspected by several states, depending on their distribution; most notably New York, California, and Maryland. State licensing began as far back as 1992.

Sperm Banks also adhere to the guideline and standards of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and/or the American Association of Tissue Banking (AATB.)

Also of note, is the fact that most major sperm banks are highly self-regulated with extensive controlled documentation, internal audits, and intense training programs for all staff.

It is often cited that there are around 30,000 donor Inseminated (DI) births per year, but a more accurate number would be 4,000 to 5,000 DI births per year as determined by an unpublished AATB survey. It is important to consider the fact that one vial of donor sperm dose not equate to one pregnancy. After taking into account the average number of vials per insemination, the total number of insemination attempts to become pregnant and the birth rate, the total number of offspring born through DI would be less than 130,000 over the last 30 years.

Internally, sperm banks have limitations on donor distribution by region, by total vial number, by pregnancies reported, by adherence to the ASRM standard of 25 births/donor per population of 800,000, etc. This will vary by bank.

So, as you can see we are highly regulated, highly controlled, and take what we do very seriously.