A High Quality Sperm Bank will Ensure that its Sperm Donors are Healthy

In cases of infertility for heterosexual couples, lesbian women wishing to have offspring or single women, many people are using donor sperm to create or expand their families. If you are part of this population you’ll want to find a sperm bank that carefully screens its sperm donors. In this day and age standards are set very high and you want to find a donor bank that adheres to the highest.

A fully accredited and conscientious sperm bank (such as Los Angeles-based California Cryobank which has accreditation for the AATB, American Association of Tissue Banks) will look closely at all sperm donors’ medical histories. In fact some go back three generations. They insist on a complete physical and retain medical records and test results for as long as the donor sperm is in storage. In addition to screening for HIV and AIDS, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases, a good sperm bank will also test for genetic deficiencies that may cause inherited diseases to strike the baby. California Cryobank, for example rejects more than 90% of donations for one reason or anther.

It’s a good idea to look for a sperm bank that freezes the sperm for a minimum of six months and rigorously tests it over that period of time. After the six months has passed and the sperm is certified as disease-free, lacking any genetic deficiencies and is certified as safe to use.

In May 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued rules by which all sperm donor facilities that collect, freeze, and store human tissue must adhere to certain standards and rules. This includes deposits made by sperm donors. When choosing a bank you should be aware that prior to this time, any donations still in storage isn’t subject to these regulations. What that means for you is that as of May 2005, all specimens come with papers listing any history of SDT in the donor.

You should also note that you may need to use insemination more than once to achieve pregnancy. If you are definite about wanting a particular person from among a list of sperm donors, be sure that the bank has a sufficient amount of his sperm stored. That saves you the frustration and potential anguish of not having the same donor if you need several procedures.