Booming of donor gametes industry

Introduction

Donor Gametes is a process in which a man or woman donates their own egg or sperm to someone who cannot have a child themselves, they receive an egg or sperm to be able to have a child of their own. It is prominently used when either the man has a low sperm count or a woman’s eggs are not of quality and or cannot become pregnant due to but not inclusive to (menopause, (when a woman stops producing eggs)). In the 21st century having a donor is common as many people are having children older or are in a same sex relationship, as many people before the 21st century usually had children younger/same sex relationships weren’t common or as socially accepted.

Scientific Explanation

Donor Gametes for men is easier for a man as his requirements are to have a high enough sperm count to be able to ejaculate into a cup to be given to the woman to be able to injected into the woman’s reproductive organs to get pregnant for woman. When a man donates sperm he can either remain anonymous or have the children be able to contact you when they are 18. Before you can donate sperm you must go through many screenings usually consisting of your age, a physical exam, semen testing, genetic testing, family medical history, psychological evaluation and a personal and sexual history. The procedure is usually done at a sperm bank, for this procedure a man is usually asked to refrain from masturbation or sex 2-3 days before the procedure, after the procedure (cryopreserved) and is kept in quarantine for at least six months, tests for any diseases, such as HIV are done. If the results of the tests are negative, your sample will be thawed and stored. If your sperm meets the standards, you’ll be selected as a donor. If a test comes back positive you will be notified.

For women the same apply’s except they will usually have to have more regular checkups to make sure the eggs are quantity and quality. The eggs will be taken out of the female donor and inserted into a female. Before the woman receiving the donation can get her egg, the egg are frozen for when the woman is ready to receive her egg. To get the egg inside the woman’s body she must have a needle inserted into her and the egg to go through into her reproductive organ. The procedure is usually followed up with checkups to make sure that the baby is healthy. Like with sperm donors a woman can choose to be anonymous or have the child be able have the children contact her when they are 18 years of age. She will need to be regularly check by a doctor or a general practitioner to check that the she has enough eggs that are healthy to be able to give to another woman, the woman will take a class of drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist analogues. The drugs are used to suppress release of (LH) by the pituitary gland, which creates and artificial menopause in the donor, they are usually administered through a daily injection. After the hormone levels have been suppressed the woman will take either, (FSH) or (hMG). She will take regular tests to make sure the eggs are maturing. Once tests say the eggs are matured, ovulation is trigged though an injection if human chorionic gonadotropin. The retrieval of eggs occurs 34-36 hours after this injection. Her eggs are stored just like the man’s sperm.

Effects on society

Economic

The sperm bank industry in 2015 was estimated to be worth USD$823M in America alone. Which is a lot since donor sperm is around $300-$4000 and donor eggs/cycle being worth $25, 000 to $35, 000. In the UK there are an estimated 30k-60k sperm and egg donor births every year in the UK alone. The egg donor industry on the other hand is worth isn’t known as it is such a big and diverse industry compared to the sperm bank industry.

Ethical/moral

There are many benefits and limitations of both biological and genetic parents, with single parents it is possible to have a child on your own with a donor even though it wouldn’t be your partner, with biological parents both the parents know that their genes are going to be in the child. Donor sperm or eggs can be extremely helpful if the couple is same-sex as they won’t have both sperm and egg to be able to have children, donors can be considered un-natural as they women injects her-self with drugs so she can produce multiple eggs at once ready for fertilization. With biological parents many of them don’t know much about their genes, with donors they have to have many tests to make sure their genes don’t carry anything that could severely disadvantage the child later in life. For biological parents the average age for mothers is 30. 7 years and for men is 33. 1 years, for donor parents it isn’t recorded.

Conclusion

In conclusion the donor industry is booming totalling to be around USD$800M. The donor process for men is much simpler than woman’s. It isn’t unnatural as it is coming from another human body, not from another body, not from something made by non-human. The donor industry has little to no effects on society itself as it isn’t really talked about as it doesn’t need to be, in today’s society many people don’t feel the need to talk about it.