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UK sperm bank has only nine donors

Britain is calling all men to prove their manhood by donating sperm, due to their national sperm bank consisting of only nine donors.

Only a year after being established the bank will have to launch a drive to recruit new donors later this month.

Laura Witjens, the chief executive, claims that if she advertises saying "men, prove your worth, show me how good you are," she would get hundreds of donors.

Britain's national sperm bank was set up only a year ago after the country experienced a shortage in donors and banks. Photo: Getty Images
Britain's national sperm bank was set up only a year ago after the country experienced a shortage in donors and banks. Photo: Getty Images

The national sperm bank was set up a year ago as a partnership between the National Gamete Donation Trust and Birmingham Women’s hospital, after a shortage of banks in the country.


Demand for sperm has risen by 20% which predate the change in same-sex marriage legislation, which Witjens said had fuelled the request

The fact that older women want children is another factor pushing up the request.

In the 2013 research, the HEFA found imported sperm has increases year-on-year to meet the rise in demand which comes mostly from the USA.

“If 100 guys enquire, ten will come through for screenings and maybe one becomes a donor. It takes hundreds of guys,” Witjens said.

A man must refrain from sex and masturbation for two days before each visit. Photo: Getty Images
A man must refrain from sex and masturbation for two days before each visit. Photo: Getty Images

Even becoming a legitimate donor requires a man to come to the clinic twice a week for up to four months.

That man must refrain from sex and masturbation for two days before each visit and then be tested again after six months, receiving $76 a session.

Witjens added that “we get asked for six-foot tall donors, when the average height is 5ft 7in in Britain, so you are effectively ruling out 90% of the donors."

"They all want doctors or barristers, but the reality is the majority of those professionals have not got time."

"So you actually get young guys with flexible jobs.”

Young sperm has the best chance of surviving the freezing and thawing process. Photo: Getty Images
Young sperm has the best chance of surviving the freezing and thawing process. Photo: Getty Images

Strong sperm has the best chance of surviving the freezing and thawing process.

More advertising will follow in January 2016 after the bank starts shipping its first batches of sperm to clinics nationwide.

Witjens said the company will be printing hundreds of thousands of leaflets and they will be pushing advertising from the income previous sperm has provided.

Their November advert has already been planned, asking men to consider giving an “alternative Christmas gift”.

Calling all 'real men' to prove their manhood by donating sperm. Photo: Getty Images
Calling all 'real men' to prove their manhood by donating sperm. Photo: Getty Images

Witjens also said she was keen to “kick the foreign banks out of business” because the UK system was far kinder to the donor-conceived, as it limited the number of families one donor can create.“

Although nine donors sounds like a small amount, technically those nine can create 90 families, who otherwise would be forced to go elsewhere.

"I want to get to a stage where there is an abundance of donors, so no woman ever feels she has to go on Gumtree to get sperm."

Rules on anonymity for donors in the UK were changed in 2005 to allow any child born after that time the right to trace their biological father when they turned 18.