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January 5, 2011

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Home » Metro » Health and Science

Volunteers sought for sperm bank study

SHANGHAI Sperm Bank is looking for men whose wives are pregnant to take part in a fertility study.

Men whose wives become pregnant in the coming months will also be eligible.

The research will be used to establish a local standard for fertile sperm - the minimum sperm count and activity that allows women to become pregnant, experts said.

Both sperm quality and activity are dropping throughout the country due to environmental pollution, work stress and unhealthy lifestyle. At least 10 percent of local couples are infertile and 10 percent of them turn to sperm banks, experts said.

And to improve the city's reproduction services, Shanghai Health Bureau has announced it will choose a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital or a hospital practicing both TCM and Western medicine to establish a center before 2020 offering in vitro fertilization together with TCM technologies.

At present, the seven city hospitals offering IVF services are all Western medicine hospitals. The new center will boost reproductive technology with TCM, which has been used for infertility treatment in China for many centuries.

"Our hospital has applied to set up an IVF center," said Wang Ziying, from Shanghai Shuguang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, yesterday. "TCM has a long history in reproductive health rehabilitation and treatment.

According to research conducted by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, domestic male sperm fertility has dropped by 1 percent annually since the 1980s.

Dr Li Zheng from Shanghai Sperm Bank said the bank will recruit 120 volunteers and protect their privacy.



 

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