Rex
The largest sperm bank in the world has stirred up controversy by refusing ginger sperm donors.
Apparently the demand for red-haired men simply isn't high enough.
Cryos International has reached capacity at 70 sperm litres, with an extra 600,000 men on a waiting list to donate.
Ole Schou, director of Cryos says not enough people are choosing sperm from red head donors, and as the bank is full anyway, it has closed its doors to ginger men:
'I do not think you chose a redhead, unless the partner, for example, the sterile male - has red hair, or because the lone woman has a preference for redheads. And that's perhaps not so many, especially in the latter case.'
Ginger sperm donations apparently sell 'like hotcakes' in, you've guess it, Ireland, but it seems the rest of the world isn't as keen, with sperm from tall men with brown eyes and dark hair the most popular choice.
'Ireland is among those countries that have the highest demand for red-haired donors – number three on the list behind Denmark and Germany,' explains Ole Schou.
'The problem is that we have too many donors on stock with red hair. If the demand increases more than supply, we will take in red-haired again.'
Graham Coull, lab manager at the Sims clinic in Dublin told the Irish Times he wasn't surprised by the news, as requests for red head donors are quite low even on the Emerald Isle:
'If it's a heterosexual couple, we match mainly to the male characteristics, and the only time we would be really matching red hair is if the male partner has red hair.
'And it's rare that we would get single women or same-sex partners requesting red hair.'
Poor red heads! Are you surprised by the ban? Are you a red-head, who's encountered gingerism?