The Shanghai Municipality Human Sperm Bank, the only institution of its kind approved by the local health department, became operational Wednesday in Shanghai, this east China metropolis.

The sperm bank has equipped with a complete set of facilities and administration procedures to regulate sperm donation and artificial fertilization.

A computer network of sperm donors has also been established.

The bank has conducted some 1,000 artificial fertilization and helped impregnate some 330 women in the past 10 years of trial operation.

To date, the bank has some 700 volunteer sperm donors, 150 of whom have passed strict selection and been incorporated in the bank network.

Aspermia is a common disease causing male sterility. Artificial fertilization may lead to gestations of some 30 percent of women receiving the treatment, experts said.

(People's Daily 04/19/2001)