There are lot more Danes around that you think?Danish genes that is. Cyros International, the world’s biggest sperm bank, is located in Denmark and has just opened a branch in New York City.
Elinor Schang writes in Reuters that Cyros has three donation centers in Denmark and donors, mostly students, are paid $40.50 for each donation. However, only about 10% of the donations are of high enough quality to be used.
On the Cyros website, childless couples can look at photos of about 250 donors (listed under aliases) so they can find someone who looks like them. Soon Cyros will accept donations from Indian, Asian and African men.
Every year Danish men donate enough sperm to fertilize around 1,000 pregnancies, to couples in 40 countries, including the U.S. Why Denmark and not other Scandinavian countries? In Norway, few men donate semen because there’s a law banning anonymous donors. In Finland, a new law was passed that gives children an unconditional right to get information about their fathers. Sweden unsealed its donor files in 1985 due to a lawsuit. Cyros CEO Ole Schou says, “The reality is that when anonymity goes, so do the donors.”
This means that in the future, there are going to be a lot more Danish genes around.
What’s the future going to bring? To find out, do the numbers.
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