Sperm from donor with cancer-causing gene was used to conceive almost 200 children
– A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed.Some children have already died and only a minority who inherit the mutation will escape cancer in their lifetimes.
The sperm was not sold to UK clinics, but the BBC can confirm a “very small” number of British families, who have been informed, used the donor’s sperm while having fertility treatment in Denmark.Denmark’s European Sperm Bank, which sold the sperm, said families affected had their “deepest sympathy” and admitted the sperm was used to make too many babies in some countries.The investigation has been conducted by 14 public service broadcasters, including the BBC, as part of the European Broadcasting Union’s Investigative Journalism Network. The sperm came from an anonymous man who was paid to donate as a student, starting in 2005. His sperm was then used by women for around 17 years.
He is healthy and passed the donor screening checks. However, the DNA in some of his cells mutated before he was born.It damaged the TP53 gene – which has the crucial role of preventing the body’s cells turning cancerous.Most of the donor’s body does not contain the dangerous form of TP53, but up to 20% of his sperm do.However, any children made from affected sperm will have the mutation in every cell of their body.
Prof Allan Pacey, who used to run the Sheffield Sperm Bank and is now the deputy vice president of the Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester, said countries had become dependent on big international sperm banks and half the UK’s sperm was now imported.
He told the BBC: “We have to import from big international sperm banks who are also selling it to other countries, because that’s how they make their money, and that is where the problem begins, because there’s no international law about how often you can use the sperm.”
He said the case was “awful” for everybody involved, but it would be impossible to make sperm completely safe.
“You can’t screen for everything, we only accept 1% or 2% of all men that apply to be a sperm donor in the current screening arrangement so if we make it even tighter, we wouldn’t have any sperm donors – that’s where the balance lies.”
This case, alongside that of a man who was ordered to stop after fathering 550 children through sperm donation, has again raised questions over whether there should be tougher limits.
The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology has recently suggested a limit of 50 families per donor.
However, it said this would not reduce the risk of inheriting rare genetic diseases.
Rather, it would be better for the wellbeing of children who discover they are one of hundreds of half-siblings.
“More needs to be done to reduce the number of families that are born globally from the same donors,” said Sarah Norcross, the director of the Progress Educational Trust, an independent charity for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.
“We don’t fully understand what the social and psychological implications will be of having these hundreds of half siblings. It can potentially be traumatic,” she told BBC News.The European Sperm Bank said: “It is important, especially in light of this case, to remember that thousands of women and couples do not have the opportunity to have a child without the help of donor sperm.”It is generally safer to have a child with the help of donor sperm if the sperm donors are screened according to medical guidelines.”
