Collection of sperm from Russian military personnel raised a lot of questions

When the phenomenon became widespread, an initiative was put forward to create a free cryobank. It was predicted that even the Ministry of Health could get involved in resolving this issue – in view of the relevance of the phenomenon and in order to minimize further demographic losses.

They even published statistics that if, before the start of partial mobilization, an average of 20-25 patients per month resorted to sperm cryopreservation services, then since the end of September 2022 there has been a continuous flow – up to ten people a day. “In some clinics, the demand for the procedure has grown thirty-fold,” employees said anonymously.

The action was planned to be held until the end of 2022, but the demand for it turned out to be so huge that in some cities there were almost no places left in cryogenic storage facilities. It turns out that, according to the most conservative estimates, today the sex cells of tens of thousands of Russian men are conserved and “sleep” in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees …

According to Vladislav Korsak, President of the Russian Association for Human Reproduction (RAHR), it was possible to collect genetic material even in combat conditions: “It is possible to obtain material in the field without any problems. There are places for organizing sperm collection – first-aid posts, hospitals.

But the main problem is not in the collection, but in the delivery to the place of further storage. And with this, as the expert believed, problems could arise. “I don’t think that those medical structures that serve the needs of the military will be able to create these conditions and bring the material to the bank on time, which are compressed.”

It is clear what this means: it was much better to donate your genetic material in advance, even before being sent to the SVO in specialized medical institutions. In St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and a number of other cities in Russia, the owners of private clinics patriotically offered their services to freeze the spermatozoa of servicemen free of charge. They promised to keep them until they could be useful. That is, perhaps in years.

But conservation and cryopreservation are actually expensive. We ran through the prices in private clinics, and it turned out that on average, storing your sperm per month will cost around 2-3 thousand rubles, about 8-10 thousand per year, and 30 thousand over five years. Not all citizens, especially in the regions, can afford such expenses.

Naturally, many businessmen got excited about the idea of ​​helping the country, but you can’t build a business on bare enthusiasm. There must be a benefit. But in what?

After all, the official departments did not get involved in this project (although such statements were made), no funds were allocated in the budget for this matter.

It is one thing when the state assumes such obligations and finances the project, and quite another when it is farmed out to unknown people and on incomprehensible terms. What did the men sign when submitting the biomaterial? Did you read the text of the treaty? Did you meet with lawyers?

How will they be able to check that their sperm is waiting in the refrigerator and not being used, for example, as a donor material? Did not go abroad for research or for the purpose of resale – according to Russian law, this is quite possible.

“By and large, under the guise of such a good cause as storing the sperm of military personnel, it is possible to completely uncontrollably (since this issue is not really regulated) and create a genetic data bank for free and in the future earn a huge fortune on this,” MK said on condition of anonymity » specialists.

“There is no technology to store sperm for IVF for a long time. There can be no talk of any years or decades. For the purpose of fertilization, it must be used as quickly as possible.

With cryopreservation, the problem is also that there are no live spermatozoa over time. Yes, it is physically possible to keep sperm in liquid nitrogen for an eternity, but it is pointless and costly, and we do not service equipment in the Russian Federation ourselves, but foreign companies, and now sanctions are everywhere.”

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It’s one thing when a person pays for a service, he can “order music” and control the quality of performance, but they don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Yes, Russians who donated sperm can be rubbed with anything, they will believe in the best intentions.

But what are the benefits of private reproductive clinics themselves?

Nine months have passed. To date, only one case is known from the media, when a woman from Krasnoufimsk turned to a cryobank with a request to use the sperm that her husband managed to freeze before being sent to the SVO, where he died a month later.

“Vanechka always dreamed of a child. He said: come on, I’ll come back, and you meet me with your stomach, ”his wife said through tears. “I would really like everything to work out for me, and we have a baby.”

However, this news did not receive further development.

So, what is next? After all, we are actually talking about the biosecurity of the state and future generations.

Problems of control and regulation in the field of the market of internal reproductive technologies, trade in biomaterials and fetal tissues (stem cells derived from the fetus and obtained from abortive material – Auth.) We asked for comment Alexander Mokhov, Doctor of Law, Professor, specialist in the legal regulation of medical activities:

“Lack of regulation leads to the formation of a gray market. It suits many actually. There should be clear norms: permissions, restrictions, prohibitions. They must be formulated in the Federal Law or laws. However, apart from some loud statements, nothing happens.

If there is no regulated sphere of activity, area of ​​turnover, circulation of individual, special objects, then there is nothing to control …

The shadow circulation of sex cells really exists, including their cross-border movement. This earns a lot of money. Separate scandals arise from time to time, and then silence again.

– What can you say about the reproductive market in Russia today? After all, all this is done in order to minimize our demographic problems.

– I think that in the first place in this area should be the solution of issues of protecting the reproductive health of the people. Here, as we can see, there are a number of serious organizational and legal problems. To begin with, we still do not even have a starting concept of what reproductive health is. There are no starting provisions at the level of federal law – there is no protection of reproductive health. In our country, everything has come down to the practice of using certain reproductive and counter-reproductive technologies.

I will immediately draw your attention to substitutions and manipulations. It is supposedly about the concept of “treatment”. But there is no cure. As was, say, a woman infertile, she remained after the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART). A certain result is achieved, but infertility is not cured.

If a woman wishes to have a child again, she will again have to use ART. The vast majority of counterproductive technologies cause irreparable harm to the health of individuals, reduce the reproductive potential of the nation, that is, pose a real threat to demographic and mental security. But it is unprofitable to engage in the prevention and, in fact, the treatment of diseases of the reproductive sphere. And the widespread practice of using ART is beneficial, and even very beneficial!

– And what about the biosecurity of the country? What can the same uncontrolled collection of genetic material lead to? I remember there was a lot of talk last year about how we would be vigilant about our biosecurity at the highest level.

– As far as I can see, a moratorium has been imposed on this topic so far. Although last year it was really actively discussed.

– What could you say about the offer to servicemen to store their biological materials indefinitely and free of charge?

– And a lot of attention was riveted to this topic last year. But in principle, biomaterials can indeed be collected for some purpose, including for export abroad. IN

All this takes place on the basis of informed consent. They can export it, they can use it for the interests of science – and you can no longer track what is happening with this even in our country, let alone outside it.

Under the idea of ​​caring for the families of military personnel, a business scheme is once again pushed through: to collect as many germ cells as possible for storage and subsequent use, including, it is possible, sales transactions. Of course, this cannot be done without the boundaries defined by law. Today it is impossible to track: who seized and how many germ cells, how many of them were not used, how many were transferred to third parties and on what basis.