A sperm bank in Denmark sold sperm from the same donor, which carried a potentially fatal cancer gene and with which at least 197 babies were fathered in 14 European countries, according to an investigation by the Investigative Journalism Network of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) published on Wednesday.
This is “donor 7069” or “Kjeld”, a student who started donating sperm in 2005 at the Copenhagen headquarters of the European Sperm Bank (ESB), after successfully passing all medical examinations at the time.
“Kjeld” gametes were sold between 2006 and 2023 to 67 fertility clinics throughout Europe, despite limits in some countries on the number of births per donor because there are no international regulations that limit it, according to this investigation published in several European media, including the Spanish public channel RTVE.
In 2023, its use was blocked after the discovery of a “new potentially fatal genetic alteration” in the sample, a pathology derived from the TP53 mutation, which is Li Fraumeni syndrome, a disease that predisposes the carrier to “develop different types of cancer throughout their life,” explains Ann-Kathrin Klym, head of the Berliner Samenbank sperm bank laboratory, cited by RTVE.
This genetic alteration was impossible to detect in 2005, because it was present in a very small percentage of sperm, but by November 2023 it had already been implanted in dozens of women throughout Europe and there are already children suffering from cancer and even, according to a doctor cited by the investigation, some “have already died”.
“We have children who have already developed two types of cancer and some of them have already died very young,” said Edwige Kasper, researcher at the University of Rouen in this European network, in an interview with Danish public television DR, where she asks that all the descendants of this donor be found for medical follow-up, even if the total number is not yet known.
At least 35 children conceived in Spain
In Spain, sperm from “donor 7069” was sold to four clinics and authorities confirmed it was used to conceive 35 children – ten from Spanish families and 25 from women who came from abroad for treatment – despite Spanish law which limits it to six families per donor.
Three of these children conceived in Spain tested positive for the mutation and one of them is already ill, according to the investigation.
The country where the sperm of “donor 7069” produced the most children is the Netherlands, where 49 babies were conceived until 2013, when the recommendation was issued to limit the number of women who should be inseminated with the same sperm to 25. It was also detected that it was used to conceive 50 children in women not residing in the country.
In Belgium, where the alarm was already triggered a few months ago, there are a total of 53 babies born from this sperm, which exceeds the limit of six families per donor imposed by Belgian legislation.
The Belgian prosecutor’s office announced in September that it would open an investigation into the fertility clinic at the University Hospital of Brussels (UZ Brussel) after the scandal broke.
Seven clinics in Greece received the sperm, although Greek authorities have not provided data to the EBU’s network of investigative journalists on how many children might have been born. A Greek doctor assured the media that three children from the same family conceived through in vitro fertilization carried the TP53 mutation and that one of them already had cancer.
The sperm also reached three clinics in Germany, where two children were born, one of whom is sick, as well as centers in Ireland, Poland, Albania and Kosovo, where no children were born. It was also reportedly sold to Cyprus, Georgia, Hungary and North Macedonia.
The European Sperm Bank acknowledged in a statement that limits have been exceeded in some countries, although it attributes this to “insufficient information from clinics, non-robust systems and fertility tourism.”
About The Author
