Number of sperm donors rises despite the loss of anonymity

New laws removing sperm donors' right to anonymity have not stopped men volunteering to provide it.

It had been feared that rules which came into force in April 2005 enabling future children to trace their biological father would lead to a fall in donations. But the first full-year figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) since the change show a 6 per cent rise in the number of men registering as donors.

A total of 265 new sperm donors (of which 208 were based in the UK) were registered with the HFEA in the 12 months to 31 March last year. That compares with 250 (including 197 in the UK) the previous year.

It is the first time that full figures have been available for the new system, as many clinics do not register donors with the HFEA until they have completed the lengthy screening process. Donor numbers had been falling over a 10-year period and recent reports have pointed to a shortage of sperm reaching crisis levels - a trend widely attributed to the removal of anonymity. At one point last year there was just one active donor covering the whole of Scotland, a figure which has now risen to three.

A spokeswoman for the National Gamete Donation Trust (NGDT) said that part of the reason for the decline was the decision by many clinics to stop recruitment amid uncertainty over the future of the system while the changes were being discussed.

The new statistics were published three months after the anonymity rules were extended to include overseas sperm donors, to whom British clinics had turned for supplies. Specialists warned this would affect a new supply line from the Xytex Corporation in the US, which pays its donors $100 per sample (£52) and Cryos, Denmark's largest sperm bank, which gives donors between 125 and 625 kroner per sample (£11 to £57) depending on "quality and volume". British clients have also been prepared to pay up to $525 (£275) for sperm from an American donor with a doctorate ($445 without the doctorate), and can specify the hair colour and physique they require.

Professor Ian Craft, the IVF pioneer who runs the private London Fertility Centre, has said regulators should "have sympathy" for those requiring donated sperm and that new "radical" financial incentives should be introduced to help nurture supplies.

The HFEA has been recording local variations in sperm donation since the anonymity rules came into place. While some places are short of supplies, Manchester, Northampton, Bristol, London and Oxford, among others, have done well.

The chairman of the HFEA, Shirley Harrison, said yesterday: "These new figures show the predicted drop in sperm donor numbers is a myth. Professionals working in the sector say there are a complex set of reasons which led to a fall in donor numbers from 1997 onwards."

The chairman of NGDT, Laura Witjens, said: "The focus should continue to be on raising awareness and recruiting willing-to-be-known egg and sperm donors. These statistics give hope and show we are on the right path regarding the sperm donors, but a lot more needs to be done to recruit egg donors."