Thousands of UK singles can now pay to browse photos of potential sperm donors as adults for the first time – in order to get the best-looking babies.
The world’s largest sperm bank, Danish company Cryos, said since they included a photo gallery element to their website, demand among those seeking sperm donors in the UK has soared.
Cryos has supplied thousands of sperm samples to the UK over many years, as they say genetic material from tall, well-educated, healthy men has always been in high demand among childless British women and couples.
But bosses at the sperm bank claim interest recently rose to new heights when Cryos became the first sperm bank in Europe to publish photos of some of its donors on its website late last year.
Due to GDPR data regulations, the pictures are behind a paywall which costs 250 euros [£222] to cross.
Cryos CEO Peter Reeslev said: “There has been a lot of interest in the donor adult photos from the UK.
“It is by far the European country with the greatest number of people who have paid to access the images on our website.
“We had expected a gradual take-up of our new initiative because of the paywall, but we are very pleased with the interest it’s had.”
As well as up-to-date photos of many new donors as adults, Cryos provides a range of personal information on their donors.
This can include baby photos, audio recordings, handwritten greetings, emotional intelligence tests, family trees and staff impressions of the donor.
Cryos said due to worldwide interest in assisted reproductive technology (ART), the company, which supplies frozen donor sperm throughout the EU and to more than 100 countries worldwide, helping conceive more than 65,000 donor children to date, is also seeing increased demand for its donors generally.
The sperm bank, which has the world’s widest selection of donors, said in the last five years a much bigger proportion of single women and same sex couples have signed up as customers.
Today, singles make up 50 per cent of Cryos’ UK customers, while 35 per cent are same sex couples, and 15 per cent are heterosexual couples.
Peter added: “Interest in our extended profiles with additional personal donor information is growing, especially among singles and same-sex couples.
“The adult photo helps them replicate the natural selection mechanism. “That means it is easier for them to tell whether there is a match between them and the donor, and whether he really is a man they would like in the real world.
“With heterosexual couples, it’s the opposite. They generally want to know less about the donor out of respect for the social father.”