Since the Human Sperm Bank (HSB) of the Zhejiang Family Planning Scientific Research Institute started testing the sperm samples of 135 volunteer donors in April, only 15 samples have passed the medical and selection tests.

HSB Director Yao Kangshou said that most volunteers were eliminated because their sperm quality fell below required standards.

“The HSB requires that one milliliter of seminal fluid contain up to 80 million spermatozoa although the World Health Organization’s standard is 20 million,” Yao explained, “So, most of the volunteers did not make the grade.”

The bank, the sixth one of its kind on the mainland, was set up in March this year. Since then, over 200 volunteers including college students, white-collar workers, and medical professionals, have registered to donate sperm. 

In early April, this number was whittled down to 135 potential donors who were examined and their sperm tested to rule out diseases including AIDS, Hepatitis B and lues.

According to Yao, sperm quality in China is rapidly deteriorating. As recently as the 1980s, 70-80 percent of donated sperm were up to the grade. In the 1990s, only 50 percent of donors passed the medical tests. Now, the figure is only 10 percent.

Among the donators, three people's sperm was found to be infected with a parasite that lives only in the cells of animals like dogs or cats.

(China.org.cn by Unisumoon June 1, 2005)