...calling huston...huston we have a problem, do you copy
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tse is down
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Wednesday November 22 8:29 AM ET
Canadians Looking South to Meet Sperm Demand
By Natalie James
TORONTO (Reuters) - A human sperm shortage in Canada, caused by new rules on donor screening, has forced doctors, and
their patients who want to be artificially inseminated, to look south of the border for frozen semen, according to fertility
specialists.
A government investigation of Canadian sperm banks last year uncovered widespread irregularities in the donor screening
process, forcing the federal Department of Health to quarantine tens of thousands of samples.
The investigation was prompted by a woman who became infected with chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted disease
that can cause sterility in women, after receiving sperm from a clinic -- the only known case of its kind in Canada.
New government requirements for more stringent and frequent testing have forced many small and university-based clinics,
which operate on a cost-recovery basis, out of business as their store of frozen semen is rendered unusable.
``The stocks have decreased dramatically,'' said fertility specialist Roger Pierson, president of the Canadian Fertility and
Adrology Society, told Reuters.
Pierson said the demand previously met by Canadian sperm banks is now increasingly being filled by large U.S. firms that can
afford to adhere to the tougher new standards.
He said U.S. orders from Canada have grown a hundred-fold this year alone.
Pierson said the sperm shortage, which he estimated could last for several years, might require patients to fly to the United
States to get treatment or to act as their own importers.
In addition, Canadians must pay about four or five times more for U.S. semen -- which often comes from clinics that operate
on a for-profit basis -- than they would for a domestic supply.
With an eye on the expanding Canadian market, U.S.-based Xytex Corp. set up a office in Toronto this month.
Company spokesman David Towles said the company has seen an increase in business of 5 to 10 percent over the past year.
``We have more people using us in Canada than ever before,'' said Towles. |
