Due to the sperm donation shortage in Australia, it looks like overseas donors are being flown in. here is the transcript from the ABC:
PM - Proposal to fly men in from overseas to donate sperm
[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1150717.htm]
Reporter: Liz Foschia
DAVID HARDAKER: Australia's gene pool is about to become even more complicated with the possibility of men being flown in from overseas to donate sperm.
Fertility clinics across the country have reported difficulty attracting sperm donors. The situation has got so dire that one New South Wales clinic has sought to gain approval to advertise overseas.
Reproductive Medicine Albury is offering airfares and accommodation to men who are prepared to donate their sperm to infertile couples, as Liz Foschia reports.
LIZ FOSCHIA: Australia has strict rules banning the commercial trade in sperm. So when a fertility clinic in the south-west of New South Wales sought to increase its stock of sperm, it had a few hoops to jump through first with the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Scott Giltrap is the Director of Reproductive Medicine Albury.
SCOTT GILTRAP: The issue really was whether it was legal to import sperm from other countries, whether it was trading in sperm, and basically the legislators have decided that what we may plan to do is quite reasonable.
LIZ FOSCHIA: The fertility clinic has gained approval to advertise overseas for suitable donors because of the difficulty it's experienced attracting local ones.
Scott Giltrap says Canada is the first option, simply because the clinic has a Canadian doctor working for it who would be able to go there and assess suitable candidates.
SCOTT GILTRAP: We would be looking at paying their reasonable costs to come over here, to stay for a couple of weeks and provide a number of samples so that we could freeze them.
LIZ FOSCHIA: Dr Giltrap says anyone wanting to take up the option would be fully screened and counselled as to the legal implications of their decision.
In New South Wales there are not yet laws allowing children to know the details of their donor parents once they reach the age of 18, but the legislation is pending.
Victoria already has a donor registry and South Australia and Western Australia are intending to follow suit.
The Fertility Society of Australia says it's this disappearing shroud of anonymity that's making it increasingly difficult for clinics to attract men to donate sperm.
But Professor Peter Illingworth, who's a spokesman for the society and also the Director of Reproductive Medicine at Sydney's Westmead Hospital, thinks that's not necessarily a bad thing.
PETER ILLINGWORTH: There's far more in the way of counselling goes on now, and there's far more of… far more time spent with the donors, letting them think about the long term consequences of what is, after all, a very important action indeed.
But what we find is that very few of the men who come forward and volunteer, very few of the men who go through counselling change their mind after that point. The problem is that we're having very few people coming forward.
LIZ FOSCHIA: So what do you think of this approval being given for a clinic to at least advertise overseas for donors?
PETER ILLINGWORTH: Yeah. I mean I think that we're all doing everything we can to try and help the couples that come to us for treatment and trying to do everything we can to encourage donors to come forward. We're all, obviously, aware of the law in Australia that says that we're not allowed to give any money or any valuable consideration, as the law puts it, to pay a donor, but nonetheless anything that we could do to encourage donors to come forward is a good thing.
LIZ FOSCHIA: So if this sperm drought persists in Australia, are we going to see more and more clinics casting their nets further and further afield for suitable donors?
Doctor Helen Szoke heads up the Infertility Treatment Authority, which regulates infertility treatments in Victoria.
HELEN SZOKE: The trend, as I say, the trend is more to take the emphasis on supply and to look much more solidly on the consequences for children being born, and that might mean that we have to target different groups of men. It might mean that government authorities such as ours need to work more cooperatively with clinics who are trying to help infertile couples, or infertile women, in actually ensuring that there is choice and diversity in the supply of sperm donation.
LIZ FOSCHIA: And what about the prospects for a whole new type of tourism?
Scott Giltrap says he hasn't yet spoken to local tourism operators about joining forces to promote the Murray region to potential sperm donors, but no doubt there are already some coming up with some slogans.
DAVID HARDAKER: Liz Foschia.
Sperm Donation
06-03-2009, 07:45 AM
Sperm Donation
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