A Danish sperm donor who fathered dozens of babies across Europe carried a rare cancer-causing gene, increasing their risk of cancer, a damning investigation has found.
In 2023, the prolific donor was found to carry the genetic mutation that can contribute to children’s cancers. The investigation claims that some parents were never warned about the risk.
Almost 200 children across 14 European countries were put at risk of cancer from the donor’s mutated sperm.
The donor, an economics student from Denmark, started donating his sperm anonymously in 2005. RTE reports that the donor’s sperm was also sold to Ireland, but no children were born from it.
The man was unaware that he carried a rare mutation of a tumour-suppressing gene called TP53 and it was not detected by doctors during the screening process.
At least 197 children were conceived with donor 7068’s sperm from Iceland to Albania, with the investigation by a group of European journalists claiming that it is possible that the number is far higher. Citing privacy concerns, the exact number of children conceived with the sperm has not been disclosed.
The donor was “immediately blocked” by the sperm bank once the problem with his sperm was discovered. However, his sperm had already been sold to 67 clinics throughthe European Sperm Bank (ESB) between 2006 and 2023.
‘WE HAVE MANY CHILDREN THAT HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED CANCER’
Edewige Kasper, an oncogenetics biologist at Rouen University in France which is leading scientific research linked to the investigation, described the mutation as “a very, very severe and rare hereditary predisposition to cancer”. Dr Kasper said it is “characterised by a wide tumour spectrum”.
“We have many children that have already developed cancer, we have some children that have developed two different cancers and some of them have already died at a very early age,” he said.
According to the investigation, TP53 stops damaged DNA from reproducing and prevents the body’s cells from turning cancerous. However, because of the mutation, up to 20 per cent of the donor’s sperm contained a dangerous form of TP53.
Children born from the affected sperm suffer from a disorder called Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS), which means they carry the mutation in every cell of their body.
By the age of 60, they have a 90 per cent chance of developing one or more types of cancer because of the genetic disorder.
HFEA, the European fertility regulator, has commented on the revelations. Peter Thompson, Chief Executive of the HFEA, said:
“We can confirm that the Danish Patient Safety Authority has informed us that a very small number of UK women have been treated in Danish Fertility clinics with this sperm donor. We understand that they have been told about the donor by the Danish clinic at which they were treated.
“As the UK regulator, we only collect or hold information about treatment which takes place in the UK. As the treatment took place at Danish clinics, further enquiries should be directed to the competent authority in Denmark.”
Affected people are required to attend regular monitoring to check for tumours.
Ireland has no law limiting the number of children that can be born to a single sperm donor, while the numbers in other European countries vary.
The ESB says on its website that the majority of its donors have a limit of 75 families.