Denmark dominates sperm donations in Europe – 08/04/2023 – Equilibrium

Student Lasse Haldrup, 23, lives in Aarhus, a city of just over 300,000 inhabitants in central Denmark. Instead of working part-time in a restaurant, as several of his friends do, Lasse has another occupation: he is a sperm donor at a semen bank, where he earns at least €450 a month (about R$2,500) thanks to a average frequency of three donations per week.

“For me, it’s an opportunity to help people who want to have children and at the same time earn some money, so I don’t have to look for a part-time job. I feel like it’s a win-win situation: you help people. people, and you get paid for it,” says Haldrup.

Denmark is Europe’s top exporter of sperm samples, a trade booming thanks to the popularity of artificial insemination or IVF procedures on the continent. Now, companies in the area are on the lookout for new buyers – including Brazilians.

Cryos International, which bills itself as the world’s largest sperm bank, recently launched a Portuguese version of its website and hired specialist staff in Latin America.

Currently valued at US$4.6 billion, the global market for sperm banks is expected to grow by around 4% from 2023 onwards and reach US$5.6 billion by 2027, according to Expert Market Research consultancy.

Danish male samples dominate Europe, with two of the largest semen banks on the continent. In addition to Cryos, which has around 1,000 donors, there is the European Sperm Bank, based in Copenhagen, and more than 500 regular contributors.

In Belgium, for example, 6 out of 10 babies conceived through sperm donations are generated from sperm from Danes, according to a survey obtained by the local newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. In the United Kingdom, more than half of donors are foreign, with 21% from Denmark, according to data from the British agency for fertility and embryology (HFEA, its acronym in English).

European countries usually allow sperm donations to be remunerated and families choose the donor, including among foreigners. In Denmark, customers can browse digital catalogs with photos and filter profiles by physical attributes or occupation in a scheme similar to that of dating sites. The country also allows donors to choose whether they want to be anonymous or whether they allow biological children to seek them out when they turn 18.

In Brazil, the legislation determines that sperm donation is a voluntary act, that is, the donor cannot be paid. In addition, only certain physical characteristics can be disclosed to the families, in addition to the donation via specialized companies being always anonymous.

To conceive a child with sperm imported into Brazil, a semen bank based in the country must request a special authorization from Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency). From 2014 to 2016, approvals were issued for the importation of 1,011 samples, according to the latest data released by the agency. The agency does not inform which are the countries of origin.

Donation is not taboo

The process to become a sperm donor at Denmark’s leading banks is a long one: applicants undergo numerous medical examinations, tests that detect up to 300 genetic diseases, as well as psychological questionnaires. From 4% to 5% are approved at the end of the selection. Those chosen receive from €40 (R$220) to €67 (R$370) per donation, and can give samples up to four times a week.

In the donation centers there are private rooms for donors. They are equipped with a bathroom, bed and a touch screen television connected to a porn site. Some companies even provide virtual reality glasses that display pornographic content in an immersive way. According to Cryos International executive Martin Lassen, the device can make the masturbation experience more realistic and result in better quality sperm samples.

On the facade, in the corridors and at the reception of the company’s office in Aarhus, almost nothing denounces that there is a semen bank, but the business is not hidden or treated as taboo either. Advertisements for this or other companies are plastered across the city, inviting men to become donors in advertisements that compare them to firefighters. “Some save lives, others give life,” reads one of the posters.

“If you ask any young Dane, they’ve probably seen an advertisement for a sperm bank at the bus stop or received a leaflet in their mailbox. They’ve become so used to it that nowadays it’s a thing natural, it is part of our culture”, says Annemette Arndal-Lauritzen, CEO of European Sperm Bank.

According to Sebastian Mohr, author of the book “Being a Sperm Donor – Masculinity, Sexuality, and Biosociality in Denmark”, the local culture favors donations. The sexual freedom and altruism that are attributed to the country may explain the greater propensity to contribute. According to the author, for many Danes, donating sperm is not a taboo, but a good deed.

ethical dilemmas

Despite advertisements that link donations and solidarity, the sperm trade is still the subject of ethical discussions. One of the main questions is how many times the semen of the same donor can be marketed. A large number of donations by at least one man increases the risk of consanguineous children.

Although there is no worldwide limit, several countries establish their own rules to mitigate the chances: in the Netherlands, the same donor can provide sperm for up to 25 families.

In Denmark, the limit is 12 families, while Spain authorizes only six. In Brazil, there is no legal determination, but a resolution by the CFM (Conselho Federal de Medicina) advises doctors to prevent “a donor from producing more than one pregnancy of a child of a different sex in an area of ​​one million inhabitants”.

Semen banks also create their own limits for each donor: Lasse Haldrup’s sperm samples, for example, can be used by up to 75 families, spread across the world. Other men, however, have limits that reach 200.

Another frequent debate is about the objectification of donors, which are featured in catalogues. Critics say the practice could favor Danes, who are generally blond, tall and light-eyed – traits desired by many sperm bank customers.

Katty Tataje, marketing manager for Latin America at the Cryos International bank, confirms that even the Latin public, which often has physical characteristics different from Europeans, tends to opt for the Scandinavian profile.

“I would say that probably only one of the requests I received from Brazil seemed to be interested in a profile that might be more local, with brown skin and dark eyes. All the others indicate more Scandinavian profiles”, he says.

The identity of donors is also the subject of ethical dilemmas: while some countries allow the search for the biological father in the future, as is the case in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, others only authorize anonymous donation, as in Spain, Hungary and Poland.

Denmark authorizes both types of donation. Lasse Haldrup chose to be an open donor, and says he doesn’t worry about the risk of being contacted by too many at once.

“I don’t mind telling people I’m a sperm donor, and I don’t mind them reaching out to me when they turn 18 either. That’s probably what I would want to do if it were me,” says Haldrup.