March 29, 2024

Danish donor passes on severe defect

So much for careful monitoring of sperm donation from Danish “Vikings”. A man, known only as “donor 7042” fathered dozens of children at Copenhagen’s Nordisk Cryobank clinic and passed on to some of them a severe genetic disorder.

So much for careful monitoring of sperm donation from Danish “Vikings”. A man, known only as “donor 7042” fathered dozens of children at Copenhagen’s Nordisk Cryobank clinic and passed on to some of them a severe genetic disorder. The limit of pregnancies per donor was supposed to be 25 and the defect should have been detected. Now at least 5 children have the tumour-producing nerve disorder known as Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) or Von Recklinghausen’s disease. The clinic first learned that a child had the disorder in 2009, but did nothing.

“Our team of physicians and our geneticist looked at the case but didn’t consider there to be reason enough to suspect it was the donor and therefore no reason to stop,” said Peter Bower, the clinic’s director. The man’s sperm was used at 14 clinics and so far he has fathered 43 children, of whom 18 live in Sweden and Norway.

Parents are considering legal action. “We want to find out what the Cryobank is really thinking and to reveal the truth behind the whole system. They are just after the money, it’s obvious when you see how many times this donor was used. We do not want this to happen to anyone else,” one mother told Norwegian media.

Spurred on by the scandal, Danish health authorities have imposed a new limit of 12 pregnancies per sperm donor. If there is the slightest suspicion of a genetic disorder, the sperm bank must stop supplying that donor’s sperm. ~ London Telegraph, Sept 25

Michael Cook
Creative commons
commercialization
Denmark
sperm donation