Now Accepting Applications: A Sperm Bank?

The largest sperm bank in the United States has opened up shop in Cambridge, and it's looking for a few good sperm.

California Cryobank opened a branch office on Mass. Ave. between Harvard and MIT on Sept. 13. Since then, they've been announcing their intention to find "high quality sperm for artificial insemination," in newspaper advertisements on local college campuses including Tufts, Boston University, MIT and Harvard.

Most of the perspective donors so far, according to Karen Fox, the lab manager of the Cambridge sperm bank, are college men, with average ages of 21-23. College students, she said, "seem to have the time to be in the program and fill out the forms."

But becoming a donor involves more than just signing up. When asked what information Cryobank requires from potential donors, Fox responded, "Everything."

Fox pointed out that the sperm recipients want to know everything about their child's future father. "Some [clients] want someone who looks just like their husband," said Fox, while others just look for more general characteristics.

To facilitate the process, prospective clients are provided with a catalog of donors listing basic information, such as ethnicity, height and education. Once clients have narrowed down their choices, they can request more information.

The Cambridge facility does not perform the inseminations, according to Fox. "I have a lot of people call, but all of the distribution is handled through our headquarters in Los Angeles."

All of Cryobank's clients are under the care of fertility doctors. Most of the clients are heterosexual couples who for one reason or another cannot conceive children by natural methods. "Only a small percent are single women," Fox said.

Harvard Students Skeptical

Harvard students interviewed yesterday had mixed emotions about the value of the service and the practice of recruiting for donors in the college press.

"Yeah, I've seen [the ad]. It's funny. You look at it and you wonder why us?" said Benson Chang '97. "Most people look at [the ad] and see it as kind of a joke."

But Holly C. Lynch '97 had no objections to recruiting college students as donors.

"I guess the [Catholic] Church is against [artificial insemination], but I'm not," Lynch said. "If somebody can provide what another guy can't, it's really something important."

The financial aspect of the arrangement, which could earn qualifying donors just more than $100 a week, certainly didn't elude the thoughts of students.

"Yes, it's okay. It's a business," said Franklin Miller '94, saying he thought it made sense for the sperm bank to solicit in college newspapers.

"That's where you find healthy sperm, with healthy young men," said Miller.

But the truth may be that students just don't know enough about the process to have serious feelings either way.

"I think it's kind of mysterious, the methods used to obtain the sample," said student playing volleyball in the MAC yesterday. The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that people he knew probably didn't take the donations seriously because they had very little information about the whole process.

But some area students are taking the notion quite seriously. Fox said that between 50 and 100 men have already responded. The prospective donors will all undergo a screening process lasting about two months, including medical and social evaluations.

Fox explained that she hears donors with a full range of beliefs. "Some say it's a moral obligation to be a donor, to help other people," while others view the practice as "morally unacceptable," she said.

"It's interesting that they should put `high quality sperm for artificial insemination,"' said Shivashish Chatterjee '95. "They are acknowledging the fact that this area is likely to provide them some."

Chang suggested that Cryobank clients may be drawing on a "better than average" gene pool, given the firm's Cambridge location. But neither he nor Chatterjee was sure how many students would end up as donors.

"It's a matter of choice," Chang said. "It's part of you that you're giving away."

But was this a choice he was willing to make? "No, I don't think I would," Chang said. "I'd like to know exactly where my children are. When you have kids you should have a full part in raising them."