Comparative Advantage in Everything: Danish Sperm

Kerry Howley | November 27, 2006

Reader Mike Kelty sends along some good news from Denmark, where viking sperm is an increasingly valuable export. It's not just that the world wants tall, blue-eyed progeny, though that helps. A few other European countries have recently outlawed anonymous donation, causing shortages and creating demand for foreign sperm. Instead of doing the same, Denmark simply started offering travel deals to fertility tourists. The bid for DNA domination seems to be working:

In the same way that some nations have oil fields or bread mountains, Denmark boasts an ever-growing sperm lake. The vault at Cryos HQ holds around 75,000 straws. It is far too much sperm for a nation where only 65,000 children are born each year, so Denmark is a net exporter. The efforts of the men of Arhus, Odense and Copenhagen have helped to engender an estimated 12,000 children around the world, and each year “the Danish stuff” brings forth some 1,400 more.

Reproductive freedom owes much to this happy mix of of moral pluralism and patient mobility. When European bureaucrats get worked up over IVF, someone inevitably points out that couples will just pick up some gametes while on vacation one country over.

Comments

|11.27.06 @ 1:01PM|#

I'm all for more mighty Aryan youth!

My question is this- why aren't the scandinavians just doing it the old fashioned (and fun) way? :)

|11.27.06 @ 1:04PM|#

I never thought I would see the phrase "sperm lake" on H&R.

brian423|11.27.06 @ 1:09PM|#

Don't forget that Denmark's tolerance of pornography has made the harvest easier.

|11.27.06 @ 1:38PM|#

Straws? I am unfamiliar with sperm donation technology. Straws? Couldn't they use a less, shall we say, distasteful term for the storage unit?

|11.27.06 @ 1:49PM|#

With 1400 extra babies carrying Danish genes born each year, my rough calculations show that in only 100,000 generations, the human gene pool will be 50% Danish.

highnumber

The sperm is stored in a pipette, which facilites freezing. All AI banks, whether human or not, use the term.

Jeff P|11.27.06 @ 1:49PM|#

Visit Beautiful Sperm Lake.
While you're there, canoe the Jizz River, go White Water rafting, and enjoy a lovely dinner at Club Spunk.

and so on and so on...

ed|11.27.06 @ 2:41PM|#

...Start your day with a lovely facial at Bukkake Spa...

Jeff P|11.27.06 @ 2:51PM|#

ed wins.
Use of the word "bukkake" trumps just about everything.

Bazil|11.27.06 @ 3:04PM|#

Skin Cancer not-withstanding Vikings were truely superior.

Yes give me more giants with golden hair!!!

|11.27.06 @ 3:53PM|#

Number 6: don't pretend to be shocked. We all knew that the phrase "sperm lake" was just a matter of time.

|11.27.06 @ 3:58PM|#

"Bukkake." Now Hit 'n Run will receive a lot of disatisfied visitors later tonight.

I can't believe that Kerry Howley didn't mention the best line in the article:

"This place used to be filled with Siemens"

|11.27.06 @ 7:09PM|#

"bukkake" = thread killer.

ed|11.28.06 @ 8:53AM|#

"Siemens. We're in the People Business."