Well... I don't want to disappoint my readers who enjoy this sort of thing. Apparently China is having some fertility issues:

The bright lights and fast living of China's richest city have taken a heavy toll on the local sperm count, a newspaper said on Monday.

Shanghai's sperm bank had managed to collect just 6,000 samples in two years and many of those were of "poor quality," the Shanghai Daily said.

"More than 2,000 people came here for physical checks and only 400 were found to be qualified" to donate sperm, the newspaper quoted the sperm bank director, Li Zheng, as saying.

Unhealthy lifestyles, emotional stress and environmental pollution were to blame for deteriorating quality, it added.

How do they figure out through a physical check whether you're qualified? I understand that you could always check the sample... but they're making it sound like these are checks are done before a sample is given. I'd imagine that as long as you can... well... give yourself a hand... that you're qualified. Why do I ask these questions?

On a more realistic note... I'd imagine that emotional stress and environment pollution are not isolated to just Shanghai. So is this a problem that is common in other industrialized nations, or is there something unique to that area causing them problems that's not being investigated?