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"If I advertised
saying 'Men, prove your worth, show me how good you are', then I
would get hundreds of donors," Laura Witjens, the chief
executive, told the Guardian newspaper.
"That's the way the Danish do it. They proudly say, this is the
Viking invasion, exports from Denmark are beer, Lego and sperm.
It's a source of pride."
Denmark's biggest sperm bank, privately-owned Cryos, said it had
more than 450 registered donors and was exporting sperm to more
than 80 countries.
The Guardian said the advertising campaign's "superman" theme
had a serious message as donors had to have strong sperm for it
to survive the freezing and thawing process.
The rigors of this process is one of the reasons the clinic has
so few donors after almost a year, Witjens was quoted as saying.
She told the BBC that generally the bank got one registered
donor from each 100 enquiries. An approved donor has to come to
the clinic twice a week for up to four months and refrain from
sex or masturbation for two days before each visit.
Donors receive 35 pounds ($54) per session from the National
Sperm Bank, a joint project between the National Gamete Donation
Trust and Birmingham Women's Hospital.
"You shouldn't do it for the money, there's really not much in
it for that," she told the BBC. "We're literally asking men to
come forward ... and to help people to become a family."
Human sperm is on sale from some private companies in Britain
for as much as 950 pounds per sample. It is also available for
purchase on the Internet.
British regulations on anonymity introduced in 2005 mean that
all children conceived as a result of sperm donation have the
right at the age of 18 to identifying information about the
donor.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton; Additional
reporting by Annabella Nielsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Raissa
Kasolowsky)
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