Australia’s assisted reproduction fueled by imported US sperm

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. 

Australia has a strong record of helping couples conceive — one child in every classroom is now said to have originated from IVF — but at least half of all donor sperm still has to be imported from the US.

The latest data on the use of Assisted Reproductive Technol­ogy shows that strong demand for infertility treatment has levelled off but outcomes continue to improve­, with genetic testing expecte­d to revolutionise the industry­ in the coming years. Michael Chapman, the vice-president of the Fertility Society of Australia, said it still took a concerted effort to find local sperm donors, who until recently were outnumbered by American donor­s two to one.

Queensland Fertility Group clinical director David Molloy said yesterday that in his experience the split was 70-30, with the majority coming from the U.S., where the practice of paying for sperm had a bigger influence on American donors than doubts that they would remain anonymous, which still seemed to deter Australian men.

While there appear to be no import or regulatory controls on the use of American sperm, Dr Molloy said clinics sought out providers with similar practices to Australia.

Read full, original post: One in two IVF sperm donors for Australian kids is American

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