De Standaard, 28 September, 2009

Every sperm is Danish

Published on 28 September 2009 at 12:54
De Standaard, 28 September, 2009

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According to newspaper De Standaard more than fifty percent of sperm used in IVF treatments in Belgium comes from Danish men. Not to worry, it"s not because mothers-to-be want babies with blue eyes and blond hair, but because of a shortage at the sperm banks. Danish Cryos International however is one of the biggest sperm banks in the world and has a stock of more than 75,000 samples which they are willing to sell to hospitals all over the planet. Doctor Ahmed Mahmoud, who works at the University Hospital in Ghent, says Danish Cryos International pay their donors very well, something that isn’t the case in Belgium: “Because of ethical reasons we don’t pay too much, we don’t want to turn it into a shady business. But that is the reason why more than half of the donors in Belgium comes from abroad, especially Denmark.” A decree of a 2007 law made it even more difficult to find enough samples: a donor now can only give to a maximum of six women. Koen Devriendt, geneticist at the Catholic University in Leuven, is not too worried about the "Danish invasion": “On the contrary. Inbreeding is more dangerous. When not-related people reproduce, there is less chance of heriditary conditions.”

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