A major international investigation has revealed that a sperm donor, who unknowingly carried a genetic mutation that dramatically increases the risk of cancer, has fathered at least 197 children across Europe.
Several of those children have already died, and experts warn that the majority who inherit the faulty gene will develop cancer in their lifetimes.
The investigation, conducted by 14 public service broadcasters—including the BBC—as part of the European Broadcasting Union’s Investigative Journalism Network, uncovered a series of systemic failures.
The sperm, sold by Denmark’s European Sperm Bank, was not used in UK clinics, but the BBC can confirm a “very small” number of British families who sought treatment in Denmark have been informed they used the donor.
The donor, a healthy anonymous man who passed all standard screening checks when he began donating as a student in 2005, unknowingly carried a mutation present in a portion of his sperm.
This damaged the crucial TP53 gene, a primary defense against cancer. While only up to 20% of the donor’s sperm carry the dangerous mutation, any child conceived from affected sperm inherits the faulty gene in every cell of their body.
In a statement, the European Sperm Bank expressed its “deepest sympathy” to affected families and acknowledged the sperm was used to create “too many babies” in some countries, violating ethical guidelines that aim to limit the number of offspring per donor to prevent genetic concentration and accidental consanguinity.
By James Kisoo
