The increasing human infertility rate is giving rise to a lucrative but illegal sperm trade in Vietnam.

At a conference on infertility and difficulty in conception held in Ho Chi Minh City last July, doctors said the infertility rate among Vietnamese couples of reproductive age has risen to 7-10 percent, with male infertility accounting for 40 percent of the cases.

The city-based Tu Du Obstetric Hospital’s infertility department treats 10,000-15,000 couples every year with the males being infertile in more than half the cases, according to Vietnam News Agency.

Doctors attribute the increasing incidence of infertility to alcohol and tobacco abuse, deteriorating health conditions, stress, lack of exercise, and the habit of wearing tight clothes.

In most cases, couples seek donor sperms from authorized sources.

Sperms from anonymous healthy male donors are kept frozen in sperm bank for impregnating women using in vitro fertilization, a technique that has been used in the country since 1997.

Dr Le Vuong Van Ve, director of Hanoi’s Male Health and Infertility Hospital, told Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper that the hospital’s sperm bank receives sperm from donors, most of whom are young men.

Sperm banks require donors to be healthy men without infectious diseases or mental problems and carry out careful tests to ensure this.

Besides, they must be aged 20 to 55 and have at least a high school degree and the ratio of live sperm in their semen after freezing must be at least 50 percent. A person can donate sperm only once in his life.

But not all donor sperm recipients become pregnant in the first attempt and the procedure has to be done from three to even 10 times for a woman to conceive, Ve said.

But there are only two sperm banks in the whole country and the demand often overwhelms the limited supply, causing many couples to look elsewhere.

Many illegal sperm sellers have begun to cash in on this demand. A typical online advertisement would say: “23-year-old senior college student in need of money to pay for tuition fees. Healthy, tall, good-looking. Contact this telephone number if you want to buy sperms.”

Others find work via brokers who lurk in front of fertility clinics, looking for potential customers.

“If you really want it, I can go get a health check and provide you a sperm sample,” Tu, a seller plying his trade in HCMC, said. “You have to cover the medical costs and if you don’t want to pay for the expense of artificial insemination, I can implant my seeds in some hotel.”

Minh, a seller in Tan Phu District who asked for VND10 million (US$540) for his sperms, said: “I will take a sperm count test and if the result is good, I’ll give it to the recipient.

“You don’t have to worry about the troublesome procedures at the obstetric hospitals. Some private facilities are willing to do sperm count tests if you know how to persuade them.”

The cost varies depending on the health and intellectual levels of the donor, according to an intermediary who wished to be known only as B.

“Healthy smart young males can demand VND10 million while those of lower standard can get VND6 million to VND8 million,” he said.

Some sellers also offer to “directly” implant their seeds into recipients in hotel rooms.

Dangerous, illegal

Doctors at Tu Du Obstetric Hospital warn couples who buy sperms illegally expose themselves to health risks and other problems.

“[It] … may result in sexually transmitted diseases for the woman,” Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, deputy head of the hospital’s infertility department, said.

Lawyer Tran Cong Ly Tao of the HCMC Bar told Tuoi Tre that Vietnamese law strictly prohibits any form of sperm trading unless it is for humanitarian purposes.

Those violating the law face penalties and even criminal charges, he warned.

Source: Tuoi Tre