Donor #11541

kriley007kriley007 Posts: 2
in Ask California Cryobank
After extensively scanning the donor database, one of my top choices was donor #11541. I purchased the long profile on this donor only to find out that he admitted to smoking pot and eating mushrooms 2-3 times per week since the year 2000. Now, I have a couple of questions:
1) How did an admitted drug user pass the California CryoBank's stringent screening process?
2) How do I get my money back, as this donor is obviously not a viable candidate.
I have contacted the Cryobank through the Contact Us via Email option twice and haven't gotten a response.
Please advise. Thank you.

Comments

  • cholland59411cholland59411 Posts: 105
    I had purchased a long profile before and got the same results. I have also got a profile that stated his father died at 36 with AIDS. I was not willing to take that chance. If you find anything out please let me know I would also like to know what they have to say about that.
    Thanks Kelly
  • kriley007kriley007 Posts: 2
    I did receive a response from the cryobank and this is what it said:
    This email is in response to your questions about “drug use” in semen donors and the basis for our accepting this donor. Those are reasonable questions and I shall attempt to provide you with our rationale in evaluating donor applicants.



    As a preface I fully realize that you may disagree with our approach but we would like share with you our reasoning on the subject.



    1. This donor is a high achieving donor in graduate school working on his PhD in physics.

    2. He has a healthy lifestyle and is in good health

    3. There is no evidence of substance abuse.

    4. My interpretation of the reported marijuana use is that this is common among many students in their twenties. While I don’t personally approve of its use in most respects it is analogous to alcohol use.

    5. Experimentation with hallucinogenic mushrooms is a more serious issue, but we did not feel that it should disqualify the donor when taken in overall context.

    6. We don’t have any compelling evidence that this would be harmful to the donor nor that it would adversely affect his genetic material.

    To be honest, I appreciate their response. That's why they offer the long profiles to help us narrow our choices down. After all, what's considered a satisfactory medical history to one, may not be for another, which is what happened in this case.

    While I do not agree with the assessment because I feel using marijuana and mushrooms 2 - 3 times per week is excessive and habitual, at least the donor was honest in his report. That being said, it is a fact that marijuana use lowers sperm count and there is a possibility of long term mental effects from using mushrooms (flashbacks, etc.). I am not a medical doctor so I can't say if using these drugs have lasting effects on genetics. However, I do have a choice on whether or not to exclude this donor because of unhealthy choices. To me, this donor looks great on paper academically, but I will exclude him because of his habitual use of drugs.

    The moral of the story is: purchase the long report to help you narrow your choices down.
  • JLacosteJLacoste Posts: 23
    that is crazy, and the fact that a donors father passed away at 36 from aids really scares me..sometimes that doesn't come out positive for years and years sometimes 20 years, i would not chance my health and my soon to be childs ...
  • cryoadmincryoadmin Posts: 103
    Thank you for posting Dr. Sims' response to your very valid question. We take our donor screening extremely seriously and go to great lengths to provide as many safe options for our clients as possible. Every donor is certainly not right for every client.

    The HIV virus may remain undetected for up to six months. This is why we do regular blood tests on all donors and quarantine all specimens for at least six months (making sure the donor has been given a clean bill of health for the six months following the collection of the specimen).

    You may be confusing detection of the HIV virus if a person has NOT tested. Individuals may remain symptom free for years while carrying the virus. However, screening tests are quite reliable when done properly.


    Scott
    CCB
  • cryoadmincryoadmin Posts: 103
    And just to clarify, in his Long Profile, Donor 11541 mentions eating mushrooms 1-2 times per YEAR, not per week. I realize this may still raises obvious questions, but I wanted to set the record straight.

    Scott
    CCB
  • brunellabrunella Posts: 25
    OK - I just ordered this long profile, going on the cyroadmin's information.

    Yeah, ok - so the 'shrooms are low.
    But it's not setting the record straight if the guy *IS* smoking pot 2-3x per week.

    So rest of you: here's the record straight -
    he IS smoking pot 2-3x per week, up to and during donation,
    and doing 'shrooms a couple times a year.

    So, I'm kinda thinking this baby's daddy's 'celebrity lookalike' is Tommy Chong.
  • brunellabrunella Posts: 25
    Oh - btw, what didn't get mentioned are other red flags:
    *10 drinks per week
    *family history w/drug and alcohol abuse.
  • cryoadmincryoadmin Posts: 103
    Hi-

    I understand your point, but I refer you back to Dr. Sims' original response.

    I am not suggesting you should ignore the information. Rather, that our screeing process is designed to produce the most genetically healthy donors we can.

    The decision on which donor is right for you is a very personal one that can only be made by gathering the available information and making the best informed choice based on your own criteria.

    Good luck,

    Scott
    CCB
  • galegale Posts: 112
    Jlacoste, you must be mistaken on the long profile or perhaps you are thinking of someone else. Go back and read his long profile which I just did and his father at least at the time of signing up to be a donor was still living. The uncle died from alcoholism but the father most certainly did NOT die of AIDS or even had HIV that we know of. Go back and check your facts please.
  • cryo-admincryo-admin Posts: 4,538
    Hi Gale-

    Thank you for the follow up.

    Scott
    CCB
  • galegale Posts: 112
    Thank you Scott, I am surprised that you didn't check into that while this discussion was still going strong. :) do you know if he has had more than five pregnancies? I am still trying with him but just curious.
  • cryo-admincryo-admin Posts: 4,538
    Donor 11541 has 5 or more reported pregnancies.

    Good luck,

    Scott
  • galegale Posts: 112
    thanks!
  • cryo-admincryo-admin Posts: 4,538
    You're welcome.

    Scott
  • abbyjennaabbyjenna Posts: 126
    Out of curiosity... any reported problems with the babies that resulted from this donor?

    He's near the top of my "short list." I'm okay with his drinking 10 a week - he was in his 20's when he filled that out, and in college. Weren't we all drinking at least 10 drinks a week back then? Same with the pot and shrooms. College kids, even the most intelligent ones, experiment. I'm okay with that. As long as all the babies seem to have come out okay :)
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