The social stigma attached to reproduction-assisted technology in China has finally caught up to thousands of frozen embryos that, having been abandoned by their donors, will either be destroyed or used in scientific experiments.

Having stored some 10,000 human embryos for as long as ten years, the fertility center of the Jiangsu provincial People’s Hospital announced it is destroying approximately 1,000 embryos because donors refuse to pay their fees or cannot be reached.

Similarly, the Shanghai Jiai Genetics and IVF Institute is considering doing the same thing. Of the 71,309 human embryos it currently has in storage, over half of them have been abandoned by their donors.

These two facilities charge between 150 and 180 yuan ($28) per month to store the embryos in liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius. According to the signed agreement, the fertility facility is allowed to destroy or use the stored embryos for medical research if its donors do not pay the storage fee for six consecutive months.

According to Chinese law, abandoned embryos cannot be adopted by third parties.

Fertility experts believe that the large number of abandoned embryos suggest that there are other reasons contributing to donors’ reluctance to reclaim their samples. “It seems to be taboo for Chinese couples to claim that their children were born through in vitro fertilization (IVF), therefore they mentally cut themselves off from the hospital afterwards,” said Wang Wei, the Director of the Fertility Center at Jiangsu provincial People’s Hospital.

Sun Xiaoxi, vice president of the Shanghai Jiai Genetics institute, shares a similar opinion. “Maybe they do not want others to know they received IVF treatment,” Sun said.

Sun goes on to say that destroying the embryos is probably a good thing. “Frankly, those stored for over 10 years may not be any good as women are more likely to cross the age to bear children,” Sun said. “Besides, there is not enough scientific evidence that it is safe to use embryos that have been lying frozen for so long.”

Sun also appears to have a sense of humor about the issue. When discussing the massive numbers of abandoned embryos, Sun says “the center did not expect so many people to leave their embryos out in the cold.”