Find out if you are eligible to donate sperm

Currently, many universities in Guangzhou have sperm donation promoters on campus, and many college students have also joined the ranks of sperm donation. However, sperm donation is far from as simple as imagined. In addition to high physical requirements, the sperm donor's semen requirements are also very high. About two-thirds of people's semen does not meet the standards. Today, let's learn more about sperm donation.

1. 95% of sperm bank donors are college students

Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, Jinan University... Currently, many universities in Guangzhou have sperm donation promoters on campus. Tang Lixin, chief physician of Guangdong Human Sperm Bank, said that through various publicity, many college students (graduate students and doctoral students) came to Guangdong Human Sperm Bank on Meidong Road in Guangzhou to donate sperm.

It is understood that so far, more than 95% of sperm donors in the sperm bank are college students. Director Tang said that college students are young and physically strong, and their semen quality is higher than that of other age groups, and they are the best sperm donors. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Health, the age of sperm donors is 22-45 years old. The largest human sperm bank in Europe, the Danish Human Sperm Bank, stipulates that the age of sperm donors is 18-40 years old.

In recent years, as the promotion of sperm donation has become more popular, some married people with children have also joined the ranks of sperm donation, and some university professors in their 40s have also come to donate sperm.

2. The requirements for sperm donation are high, and only 1/3 of the sperm is qualified

For sperm donation, the sperm bank will provide free physical examination and semen testing to all applicants, and only qualified applicants can donate.

Experts say that to donate sperm, you cannot have systemic diseases and serious organic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, tuberculosis, liver disease, urogenital system diseases, blood system diseases, hypertension, mental illness and leprosy; you should also not have long-term exposure to radiation and toxic and harmful substances; myopia should not be greater than 500 degrees, and you must not be color blind or color weak.

Experts also say that in addition to the high physical requirements, the sperm donor's semen requirements are also very high, so there are not many people who meet the conditions, and only one-third of the people who come to donate sperm are qualified.

Although college students are at the peak of their reproductive years, the pass rate of their semen is basically at this ratio, that is, only 1/3 is qualified.

If the semen is not up to standard and does not meet the sperm donor's standards, it does not mean that the person's body and fertility are abnormal. It is like selecting astronauts. If they are not selected, it does not mean that their body is not good. It is mainly because the sperm bank has very high requirements for the sperm donor's semen.

For example, the sperm concentration must reach 60 million/ml, 60% of the sperm must be motile (moving in a straight line), 30% of the sperm must have a normal morphology, that is, the sperm must have a head and a tail, and 30% of them must look "handsome".

The last standard is 26% higher than that in foreign countries, where the requirement for normal sperm shape is only 4%. It can be seen that only a few men have semen that meets the "storage" standard.

3. Each person is limited to donating 15 ml

Tang Lixin said that sperm banks provide certain subsidies to sperm donors, but as Chen Zhenwen, a top expert in the industry, said, it is not realistic to make money by donating sperm. The sperm donation subsidy only compensates the sperm donors for the time and transportation costs they spend on participating in sperm donation.

The reporter took a closer look at the sperm donation process and found that sperm donation is not a one-off process. Since the donation volume must reach 15 ml, and the average person's ejaculation volume is only about 2 ml, it takes almost 10 times to complete the target, and each donation needs to be separated by 5-7 days. Blood must be drawn repeatedly to check whether there are infectious diseases, and it basically takes half a year to complete the entire sperm donation process.

The most important thing is that once you have reached the 15 ml semen mark, you can no longer donate sperm. According to domestic regulations, a man's semen can only be used by five women to conceive, a ratio of 1:5, so there is no need to worry about the probability of two half-siblings meeting, falling in love and getting married.

20,000 new qualified sperms are imported every year, but the supply still cannot meet the demand

The Guangdong Provincial Human Sperm Bank receives about 20,000 qualified sperms each year, but there is still a "shortage". Tang Lixin said that there are 11 sperm banks in operation nationwide, and the Guangdong Provincial Human Sperm Bank has to meet the needs of Yunnan, Hubei, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. As the number of infertile patients increases, the demand for artificial insemination and test-tube babies is increasing, so the supply is insufficient to meet the demand.

If you want to choose a "tall, rich, and handsome" sperm donor, then you have to be more patient. Tang Lixin said that currently, sperm banks will also consider the height, education level, origin, blood type, etc. of sperm donors when collecting semen, but if you want to choose a sperm donor who is over 175 cm tall, looks like Andy Lau, and has a PhD, sorry, there are too many people and too little porridge, you have to wait in line.

Regarding the fantasy of most people that "excellent people's sperm" can pass on excellent genes, Tang Lixin said that although heredity exists objectively, the degree of correlation between heredity and factors such as intelligence is still unclear. Moreover, even if a child has excellent genes, will he or she be successful? I'm afraid it's wishful thinking.