A donor whose sperm has been used to conceive at least 197 children throughout Europe carried a cancer-linked genetic mutation that went undetected for years, a cross-border investigation has found. The anonymous man—donor 7069, per Deutsche Welle—began donating to Denmark's European Sperm Bank in 2005, while a student, and his sperm was used for roughly 17 years in 67 fertility clinics across 14 countries.
He passed standard screening and is healthy himself, but as much as 20% of his sperm carried a damaged TP53 gene, which normally stops cells from becoming cancerous. The BBC explains children born from that impacted sperm will "have the mutation in every cell of their body." Their condition, called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, can confer up to a 90% lifetime risk of cancer, often in childhood and including breast cancer later in life. Doctors involved say "many" affected children have already developed cancer; some have died. CBS News reports the "vast majority" of children who have the gene will develop cancer at some point and they'll need to undergo annual screening for life.
The case came to light after clinicians treating donor-conceived children with Li-Fraumeni raised alarms at a genetics conference; journalists from 14 European public broadcasters, including the BBC, then traced at least 197 children born from this donor, though the total may be higher. The European Sperm Bank says the mutation is "not detected preventatively by genetic screening" and that the donor and his relatives are not ill.
It says the donor was "immediately blocked" once the mutation link was identified, and it has expressed "deepest sympathy" to families. The bank also acknowledged that national limits on how many families can use a single donor were breached in some countries; in Belgium, where the cap is six families, this donor's sperm was used by 38 women, resulting in 53 children.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
