Sperm bank: Redheads need not apply

[Ahknaton]

Redheads rejected as sperm bank bans deposits
STEPHANIE GARDINER

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/5651042/Redheads-rejected-as-sperm-bank-bans-deposits

Redheads have long battled rumours they are a dying breed and Europeans are not helping, with the world's largest sperm bank rejecting flame-haired donors due to lack of demand.

But IVF Australia medical director, Associate Professor Peter Illingworth, said the same would never happen here because the country does not have enough donors.

"The problem we have is a shortage of donors," Associate Professor Illingworth said.

"We will happily take all the redheads we can get."

London's Daily Telegraph reported that Denmark's Cryos sperm bank, which provides sperm to women in 65 countries, has started turning away red-haired donors because there is very little demand for their sperm.

A recent peak in donations meant the sperm bank could be selective about their donors, Cryos's director Ole Schou said.

"There are too many redheads in relation to demand," he told told Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

"I do not think you choose a redhead, unless the partner - for example, the sterile male - has red hair, or because the lone woman has a preference for redheads. And that's perhaps not so many, especially in the latter case."

Mr Schou said the sperm of redheads "sold like hot cakes" only in Ireland, while Cryos's clients mostly demanded donors with dark eyes and hair.

Associate Professor Illingworth said there was no real bias against red-haired donors in Australia.

"I think it depends on the context," he said.

"Where couples are using donor sperm because the male partner has a sperm problem, then clearly they want the donor to look as close to the male partner as possible.

"And clearly red hair is not the most common hair colour in Australia.

"But increasingly, we provide access to donor sperm to single women and same-sex couples and that's not such an issue in that situation."

Associate Professor Illingworth said donors would never be turned away in Australia for a "trivial issue" such as hair colour, as it was difficult to attract any men to give their sperm.

Men can only donate their sperm after a rigorous process of counselling and health checks, including screening for mental health and genetic issues.

"The ethical background under which donor sperm is used in Australia is quite different ... nowadays in Australia we only use sperm donors in Australia who are willing to have their identity passed on to the offspring.

"We also have strict limits on the number of families you can create from any one donor.

"Neither of these apply in other parts of the world; therefore in other parts of the world it is much easier to recruit a sperm donor and you can use a sperm donor to create many more families.

"But very properly and quite correctly in Australia we don't do things that way.

[Gregz]

A recent peak in donations meant the sperm bank could be selective about their donors, Cryos's director Ole Schou said.

"There are too many redheads in relation to demand," he told told Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

Maybe it's the only way the ginger fuckers can breed. :p

Red hair can look good on a women and I suppose at least it's a bit diffrent.

http://cdnimg.visualizeus.com/thumbs/84/8a/dikaya,female,glamour,redhead,redheads-848ac1de91e4e4a3bfdff3fb25395642_h.jpg

Oxford University scientists think the 'ginger gene', which is responsible for red hair, fair skin and freckles, could be up to 100,000 years old.

They say their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man, who lived in Europe for 260,000 years before the ancestors of modern man arrived from Africa about 40,000 years ago.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-38826/The-ginger-gene-revealed.html#ixzz1YUym424O

[Kodos]

Rather fond of redhead women... (actually gingers ain't ussually bad people... despite being disproportionately irish) this is kinda sad.

[Gregz]

Red hair is seemingly an hyperborea adaptation to low UV levels. :popcorn:

Redheads set for extinction

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2007/08/22/va1237263238618/nicole-kidman-5621943.jpg

Red alert ... redheads, such as Nicole Kidman, are a dying breed, say experts. Source: The Courier-Mail

PETER Beattie, Nicole Kidman and Michael Voss are. So were William Shakespeare, Christopher Columbus and Queen Elizabeth the First.

But the future doesn't look bright for people with ginger hair.

According to genetic scientists redheads are becoming rarer and could be extinct in 100 years.

The current National Geographic magazine reports that less than 2 per cent of the world's population has natural red hair - created by a mutation in northern Europe thousand of years ago.

Global intermingling, which broadens the availability of possible partners, has reduced the chances of redheads meeting and so producing little redheads of their own.

Although it takes only one red-haired parent to produce ginger babies, two redheads obviously creates a much stronger possibility.

Some experts warn redheads could be gone as early 2060, but others say the gene can be dormant in the reproductive system for generations before returning.

National Geographic says the gene at first had the beneficial effect of increasing the body's ability to make vitamin D from sunlight. However, today's carriers are more prone to skin cancer and have a higher sensitivity to heat and cold-related pain.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/redheads-set-for-extinction/story-e6frer4f-1111114244210

[Felix the Cat]

http://www.thephora.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48731

[PsychoStick]

They say their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man, who lived in Europe for 260,000 years before the ancestors of modern man arrived from Africa about 40,000 years ago.

This actually makes a lot of sense if you've read about Neanderthal man.

[calvin]

Modern man did not come from Africa 40,000 years ago. The ancestors of Europeans came from the far East 50,000 years ago. There was substantial immigration from Europe to Africa at the end of the last ice-age 10,000 years ago.