In the article they state: “Men’s sperm count could be reduced by exposure to chemicals in the environment, according to research.”

The article further states that ”The results could suggest that a rise in the need for in-vitro fertilisation in humans is due to exposure to chemicals in our environment, the team said.”

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/15/health-sperm-count-reduced-chemicals_n_1518176.html?ref=canada&ir=Canada

Likely there are things you remember from various stages in your education like being the line leader, square dancing in gym, or senior skip day. However, the lab next to my lab in graduate school studied environmental effects on frogs. Phthalates and Xenoestrogens were the main compounds found in the environment causing effects such as additional limbs, deformed genitalia and much more.

One specific Xenoestrogen is Bisphenol A (BPA) which has been getting press about its presence in water bottles and possible effects on miscarriage, premature birth, symptoms of ADHD and sexual function. Phthalates are xenoestrogens which are industrially made compounds that have estrogenic effects and differ chemically from estrogens which are naturally occurring, produced by living organisms. It is believed that Phthalates and some xenoestrogens can last in the environment for over 70 years.

Phthalates are used mainly in plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability and longevity. They are being phased out of many products in the United States and European Union (EU) over various health concerns. However, last time you looked on a product was it made in the US or EU? Probably not! Therefore it is still a concern to people living in the United States.

Phthalates are used in a large variety of products, from coatings of pharmaceutical pills and nutritional supplements to adhesives and glues, building materials, personal care products, medical devices, detergents, packaging, children’s toys, waxes, paints, printing inks, pharmaceuticals, food products, and textiles. Phthalates are used in a variety of household applications such as shower curtains, vinyl upholstery, adhesives, floor tiles, food containers and wrappers, and cleaning materials. Personal care items containing phthalates include perfume, eye shadow, moisturizer, nail polish, liquid soap, and hair spray. They are also found in modern electronics and medical applications such as catheters and blood transfusion devices. Just about everywhere you turn.

Some of these effects are discussed in a Washington Post article.

After graduate school I…

1. Stopped wearing nail polish with Phthalates -spent the extra $2 to get Phthalate/BPA free.

2. Never microwave plastics or freeze anything in plastics. Phthalates leach more from plastics when exposed to increased temperatures.

3. Rarely eat anything canned – just buy frozen veggies. The linings of cans commonly contain Phthalates. FYI, You can find frozen mandarin oranges if you really look (that was my canned good weakness).

4. Limited my bottled water drinking and purchased a metal refillable bottle. Never, ever drink bottled water that has been left in the sun (like your car). The level of phthalates that leached to the water from these bottles was outrageous.

5. Watched packaging. It doesn’t matter how organic a product is if the packaging could add additional compounds to affect your health. Choose foods that are frozen, fresh or in glass jars. Look at the labels of toys, cosmetics, soaps, before purchasing.

6. Read labels that could include terms like DEHP, DMP, BPA or DBP which are common phthalates. Hard to find just using initials, however you want to watch specifically for “phthalates” in the term.

This isn’t just for men but also effects women and not just sexual function. Current research termed “reproductive toxicology” is being completed at universities as well as private and government run facilities. You should have seen those frogs that were exposed to even low levels. You can check out some of Dr. Rao’s publications for crazy frog pictures if you aren’t convinced.

More information can be found at: http://phthalates.americanchemistry.com/

Have you listened to one of the donor audio clips?

We are the only sperm bank that makes these available free of charge and they are ready for download immediately.

I have listened to over a hundred of these and am always impressed with how much you can tell by these brief clips. Are they outgoing? How articulate are they? It is a great way to screen through your own personal list of donors and get an instant sense of who they are. And if one of those clips is especially intriguing, you can look deeper.

These audio clips and the full length audio interviews are really one of the best tools on our donor search to help you make your selection.

Take a listen!

Working with anonymous and ID Option sperm donors, I get to see how the Cryobank helps many couples build their families. The clients we work with typically fall into one of these categories: husband-wife, lesbian couples, or single women. Every so often we work with Directed (aka Known) Donors, and the recipients usually fall into the same categories, a husband-wife couple, a lesbian couple, or a single woman.

What about homosexual male couples who want to build a family? What are their options? There’s surrogacy or adoption, basically.

In my own life, I have many close friends who are homosexual males. Many of these friends are in long-term relationships, as we’ve all gotten older, people tend to pair up! We are all at that age where folks are dreaming of having children, or already building their families. Well, male-male couples sometimes dream of fatherhood too! I’ll share a few perspectives of my friends, giving them false names for privacy’s sake:

Couple #1: Mr. and Mr. Sweet

I’ve known one-half of this couple for nearly a decade, and consider him one of my closest friends, and I’ve known his partner for 6 years, the time they’ve been together. They recently celebrated their relationship by getting married. They are both successful in their chosen careers, have fulfillment in their relationship, and dream of raising a family. They have considered their options for a while, and are starting the adoption process.

I’m thrilled for them, and I hope that one day soon I will be hosting a baby shower for them.

Couple #2: Mr. and Mr. Tall

I have known this couple for several years. They’ve been together for about 10 years. A few years ago, when my daughter was about 6 months old, they asked if I would consider being an egg donor for them, and wanted to know how my husband and I felt about that. Being new parents ourselves, we wanted this couple to know the joy of having a baby of their own. Ultimately, we all decided not to go that route. Since then, Mr. and Mr. Tall have begun the process of finding an egg donor and a gestational carrier. The details are still being worked out, but in the coming months they’ll be well on their way to parenthood.

Couple #3: Mr. and Mr. Blue

One of the partners in this relationship is a friend I’ve known since college, and we remain very close. He has always said he wants to be a father someday – and he’ll be a wonderful father, in my opinion. He is a surrogate uncle to my children – while I was pregnant (both times) – he would sing to my baby bumps! My 4 year old daughter adores him, and he’s a natural with my 10 month old son as well. He would like to start a family within the next 10 years or so – and will consider all options available at that time.

I’m glad these guys have options, and I can’t wait to meet their children one day.

One of my ‘sometimes’ tasks as an employee of the Cryobank is keeping up with the social media side of things. It’s not my primary task, but one of those tasks that I take on here and there, and one of the most fulfilling tasks!

I look forward to the interaction with our “fans” or followers. Sometimes I’m answering questions about donors or products, like Lifetime Photos. Sometimes I’m posting pregnancy report info, which is always exciting! Sometimes, I’m interacting on a thread about random things, like what everyone’s favorite Holiday cookie is.

It’s great to interact with those who are trying to conceive, especially when folks post photos of their babies/children/pets! Our followers have great insight, and it’s a task that I find refreshing!

I hope that our followers continue to ask great questions, give useful feedback, and keep posting those baby photos!!! Visit us on Facebook.

Blog written by CLI Family Forum Moderator Desiree

One of the biggest worries brought up by members on the CLI Family Forums is how to tell your children that you used a donor. “The Birds and The Bees” topic isn’t usually the most favored talk parents have with their children. But when family dynamics include the use of donor sperm and insemination, resources to aid in this discussion may seem limited.

Fortunately, as more people are utilizing donor sperm there are more books, pamphlets, and websites now available to aid parents on how to handle difficult questions from their children. Below are a few resources that CLI has complied that may help families teach their children. Please note that CLI is not endorsing any particular book.

Mommy, Did I Grow in Your Tummy? Where Some Babies Come From By Elaine Gordon

How Babies and Families Are Made: There Is More Than One Way! By Patricia Schaffer

Let Me Explain: A story about donor insemination By JaneSchnitter

ABC A Family Alphabet Book By Bobbie Combs

Heather Has Two Mommies By Leslea Newman

Who’s in a Family? By Robert Skutch

To read more about what others are saying on this topic, visit the CLI Family Forums discussion “Discussing use of donor with kids.” Feel free to join the discussion with your ideas or resources!

Now that you understand the terms from the last post, let me explain how you use this information to understand the CLI Specimen Quality Statement found on web site and in each sample shipment. Our specimen quality statement states that each IUI or ICI ready vial will contain 20 million TMC/ml (10 million TMC/vial) and our IVF units will contain 5 million TMC/vial. This is the post-thaw analysis. Therefore, each vial contains significantly more cells than 10 million. The 10 million TMC describes only the number of motile cells in the vial. In addition to the motile cells in the vial there is the cryoprotectant solution, non-motile sperm cells, and debris.

Your physician’s office will do a post-thaw evaluation once the sample is thawed and they may also further prep the sample if needed for your procedure. Keep in mind, semen is not a homogeneous mixture (i.e. sperm cells are not evenly distributed in the vial) and because of this, sample concentrations may vary from lab to lab. In addition, there can be settling during freezing so the sample needs to be mixed will before the analysis is performed.

The sample may also need to be washed following thawing (procedure dependent), and the final concentration may go down 10 to 30%. Any procedure that involves altering the sample will affect the survival of the cells which will affect percent motility and final TMC. Keep this in mind and be prepared to ask your physician questions about any post-thaw processing they may have performed or you may want to contact the sperm bank if your sample(s) do not meet your expectations or the specimen quality statement.

Good luck and I hope that you now have a better understanding of “what is in my vial of donor semen.”

I sometimes get questions related to semen and semen quality standards. Many sperm banks publish quality standards and although similar in some aspects, they are different in other areas. How do I understand what is in my vial of donor semen?

First, one needs to understand the terms used to describe a semen sample purchased from a sperm bank. Then, when reading the semen quality standard you should have a better understanding of what you have purchased. Here are some common terms used when referring to semen samples purchased from Cryogenic Laboratories, Inc.

Semen – Semen is a mixture of fluids from the male accessory glands (prostate, seminal vesicles) sperm cells from the testes and other cellular debris (leukocytes, immature sperm cells, etc.). Frozen semen is packaged in straws or vials. Most straws contain 0.5 ml of semen and vials often contain 0.5 ml or 1 ml of semen.

Concentration – Concentration is the number of sperm per unit of volume. Sperm concentration is typically reported in millions per milliliter (ml). Example: 50 million/ml.

Cryoprotectant – The cryoprotectant is a substance (usually glycerol) that is added to the semen to help preserve/protect the sperm cells during the freezing process. The cryoprotectant is usually mixed in a media. The media can be an egg based buffer or a non-egg based buffer and is called the cryoprotectant solution or extender. By adding a cryoprotectant solution to the raw semen, the sperm cells are protected from dying during the freezing and thawing cycles. The cryoprotectant solution does not guarantee 100% survival however the number of sperm surviving the freeze-thaw cycle will be higher if a cryoprotectant is used than if it is not.

Percent (%) Motility – Percent Motility is the number of sperm cells that are moving in a semen sample divided by the total number of sperm cells (moving and nonmoving) in a specific volume (typically 1 ml).

Total motile cells (TMC) – TMC is a calculation of the Total number of Motile Cells moving in a specific volume (0.5 ml, 1 ml for example). You need three pieces of information to calculate the TMC. The concentration of sperm, the percent motility and the volume. The calculation is: Concentration (millions/ml) X % motility X volume (ml) = TMC. Example: 70 million X 35% X 0.5 ml = 12.25 TMC/0.5 ml.

Pre-freeze motility – % of sperm cells that are moving prior to freezing.

Post-thaw motility – % of sperm cells that are moving following thawing.

ICI ready or Unwashed semen – Unwashed semen is a semen sample that has not had the seminal plasma (liquid portion) of the raw semen sample removed prior to adding the cryoprotectant solution. Therefore, an unwashed sample contains all the fluids in the original sample plus the cryoprotectant solution. Unwashed semen is typically used for intracervical inseminations (ICI) but can be washed following thawing and used for intrauterine inseminations (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF) or IVF/ICSI.

IUI ready or Washed semen – Washed semen is a sample that has had the seminal plasma (liquid portion) of the raw semen sample removed and replaced with a sperm compatible media plus the cryoprotectant solution prior to freezing. Washed semen is typically used for intrauterine inseminations (IUI) and does not need additional prep prior to insemination. IUI samples can also be used for ICI without further prep. IUI samples can be washed post-thaw and used for IVF or IVF/ICSI.

IVF unit – IVF units are unwashed samples that contain half the TMC of an ICI or unwashed semen sample.

A few weeks ago I attended my husband’s office holiday party, and while chatting with a large group of my husband’s coworkers the question of what I do came up. Sometimes I will tell people I work in a research lab to avoid some of the embarrassing questions that always come up when talking about my job, but tonight I was feeling chatty so I said worked in a cryobank.

Of course everyone quickly realized that meant “Sperm Bank”. As usual there were lots of giggles and a few outrageous questions, but for the most part everyone was really curious and surprised to hear about all the rigorous testing and high standards we require for donors. I answered the serious questions and laughed off the silly ones, and after a while the conversation moved on.

About a week ago, my husband told me that a female coworker had stopped him in the hall. This coworker had been at the party with her husband and had overheard the conversation about my job. She told him that they had been trying to get pregnant for a while and had been recently been diagnosed with Male Factor Infertility. Their doctor had told them that using donor sperm might be their best chance for a pregnancy, but her husband refused to even consider it. Like most people, he associated the sperm banks with the unregulated, “walk in off the street and get paid” image portrayed on TV and in the movies and he did not trust the industry to help them.

She went on to say that her husband had been surprised to hear what I had to say about my job, and a few days after the party had finally consented to take a look at some sperm bank information. She wasn’t sure if he was willing to use donor sperm yet, but at least now he was considering it an option. She thanked my husband for bringing me to the party and credited me with helping her husband see past his prejudice against semen donation.

My husband said he was a little taken aback that this woman told him something so personal, but apparently by talking about it openly at the party we had helped her and her husband feel more comfortable about the whole subject. It also surprised both of us that our random conversation at a party had been so helpful to them. I never thought simply talking about my job might have such an effect on people’s lives, and it was good to hear that even though most people were laughing, someone was really listening and learning.

So often in life we are told that more is better. Sometimes there is a sufficient number or size but because of the “bigger is better” philosophy we overlook this. Who hasn’t gotten the large popcorn for only 75 cents more at the movies even though the medium would have been more than enough?

Sperm banks offer donor sperm with variable volumes, cell counts, and motilities. These variables are dependant on the sperm bank and the prep type (IUI, ICI, IVF). The decision of what is in the vial must be made with careful consideration for the needs of the patient to achieve pregnancy. Studies have demonstrated that when it comes to pregnancy rates, more sperm is not necessarily better. There is an observed plateau in pregnancy rates once the number of sperm in an insemination dose reaches 10 million. (Van Voorhis et al, 2001) & (Cressman et al, 1996).

The bottom line in terms of count is increasing sperm numbers beyond 10 million per dose does not have an appreciable impact on pregnancy rates.