A race against time which turns into distribution.
With the increase in requests for donations for medically assisted procreations (MAP) and the lifting of donor anonymity, a “solidarity operation” is being organized between sperm banks in France.
The first took place this Wednesday March 13 between the centers of Rennes and Lille, to “optimize” stocks.
The Center for the Study and Conservation of Human Eggs and Sperm (Cecos) in Rennes is “the first in France in terms of quantity of glitter”, according to biologist Ségolène Veau who works there.
What we call “straquins” are actually fine sticks preserved in nitrogen and which each contain between 0.5 and 15 million spermatozoa.
Donations that will expire in a year
All must be used before March 31, 2025, the date on which a law allows any person conceived by gamete donation to know the identity of the donor while anonymity was until then the rule.
Beyond this date, if they are not used, Cecos de Rennes will have to destroy them because they will no longer comply with the law, being from anonymous donors.
However, the establishment is “surplus” in donations.
Also read “It’s important to know where you come from”: sperm donor, Sylvain says yes to lifting anonymity
In order to avoid this “waste”, the Cecos of Rennes, under the supervision of the Biomedicine Agency, will therefore give 1,100 straws to the Cecos of Lille, which is “deficit”, explains Professor Marc-Antoine Belaud -Rotureau, head of the cytogenetics department at Rennes University Hospital.
This transfer, the first in France, foreshadows “national management: donations are very precious (…) we make sure to optimize donations in order to care for as many patients as possible” within the framework of PMA, develops he.
A vast “solidarity operation”
This is “a solidarity operation” during which the Cecos of Rennes will send 8,000 straws to other deficit centers such as Brest, Nantes or even Nancy, argues Véronique Anatole-Touzet, director of the Rennes University Hospital .
“We absolutely must have sperm donations (…) We talk about blood and organ donations but we talk less about sperm donation, even though there is a considerable medical and societal demand,” she insists.
Even if Cecos de Rennes is the best-off in France in terms of donations, these are not sufficient to meet the demand for PMA, point out Ségolène Veau and Marc-Antoine Belaud-Rotureau.
While infertility is growing in France, the bioethics law of August 2, 2021 now also allows couples of women or single women to use assisted reproduction.
“An unprecedented development”, estimates the Biomedicine Agency, in a press release.
PMA requests have increased seven-fold nationally and eight-fold in Rennes, according to professionals at Cecos de Rennes.
Donations have only doubled, returning to their level before the Covid pandemic, i.e. “30 to 40 donations” per year.
Impossible, therefore, to satisfy the demand for PMAs: each insemination requires 3 to 4 straws.