Sperm Donation – How do Sperm Banks Select Donors?

We caught up with our friends at Cryos Sperm Bank to find out more about how they pick their sperm donors and the health and psychological checks they have to go through to make it onto the books.

Over to Cryos International…

www.cryosinternational.com | @cryosinternational

Have You Ever Wondered How Sperm Banks Select Their Sperm Donors? Could Any Man Walk In From The Street And Become A Donor?

At Cryos, we have an extensive screening programme that all men who wish to become a donor must go through before being approved. In this way, you can rest assured that the sperm donor you choose is healthy and lives up to all clinical requirements. Read on to see how we at Cryos screen and select our donors.

Can All Men Become Donors?

Far from all men can become sperm donors. In fact, Cryos only approves 5-10% of the men who apply to become a sperm donor. First of all, and probably not surprisingly, sperm donors must have very good sperm quality. Second, donors must be in very good health and pass several medical tests.

Assessment of Medical History

When a man applies to become a donor with us, he must fill out an extensive medical questionnaire and go through an interview with Cryos’ medical staff. If he or anyone in his family has a serious physical or mental disease, he will be rejected as a donor at this early stage. Further to this, the staff assesses his “risk behaviour”. Donors must practise safe sex at all times to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

Physical Examination and Test

Next step is a physical and mental examination of the donor which is carried out at the Cryos’ medical office. The potential donor must also give blood and urine samples which we test for infectious and genetic diseases as well as a normal chromosome profile. When you go through the donor profiles on Cryos’ website, you can see exactly what the donor has been tested for in the document called ‘Summary of Records’.

Ongoing Testing of Sperm Donors

If the applicant passes all tests and assessments, he can be approved as a sperm donor and begin to donate. However, testing does not stop there. All sperm donors at Cryos get tested for infectious diseases on an ongoing basis until they stop donating.

Choose a Sperm Donor for Your Country of Treatment

All countries have their own specific requirements with regards to the selection and screening of sperm donors. Cryos sperm donors live up to different screening criteria. We call this Standards. So, if you are going to have fertility treatment in the UK for example, you must choose a donor who lives up to the UK Standard. If you live in Germany, you must choose a donor who lives up to the DE Standard. Most donors live up to several countries’ standards. Under each donor profile you can see which standards his donations live up to.

Sperm donors go through an extensive screening programme before being allowed to donate. In this way you can feel safe and concentrate on finding a donor that matches your preferences, such as ethnicity, education, interests etc.

If You Have any Questions…

If you have further questions regarding selection and screening of donors – or anything else – you are welcome to contact Cryos’ competent customer service. We are ready to help you when making your big decision.