The sperm of a man carrying a rare cancer-causing mutation was used to conceive at least 67 children, 10 of whom have since been diagnosed with cancer, in a case that has highlighted concerns about the lack of internationally agreed limits on the use of donor sperm.
Experts have previously warned of the social and psychological risks of sperm from single donors being used to create large numbers children across multiple countries. The latest case, involving dozens of children born between 2008 and 2015, raises fresh concerns about the complexity of tracing so many families when a serious medical issue is identified.
“We need to have a European limit on the number of births or families for a single donor,” said Dr Edwige Kasper, a biologist at Rouen university hospital in France, who presented the case at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Milan.
That really sucks. The generic defect is brutal. I’ve known people who have had it. It can cause cancer that just keeps coming back over and over. Treatment is just stalling the inevitable.
most of them check for STDS, but not for the many and rare genetic diseases at sperm backs, i doubt they have the labs to do genetic testings, especially if its a rare disease, nobody is the wiser.
…there’s hope for me!
