Beware the Unscreened Sperm Donors!

[frazzledspice]

A man in the Netherlands who had fathered 18 children as a sperm donor about a decade ago has recently been diagnosed with a rare and fatal neurological disease.

Because it is genetically transmitted, each of the 18 children has a 50-50 chance of developing the disease.

Just how closely are sperm donors evaluated anyway? Don't they have to undergo genetic screening before they are accepted into the program?

[theeye]

It's a "rare" disease. Why would you think that every donor should be screened for it? Would you advocate that all couples contemplating conceiving a child should be screened for this (and every other rare genetic condition)?

The chances that a randomly selected married couple conceiving a child naturally will, eighteen years later, find that one parent is diagnosed with this condition are probably pretty much the same as the chance that the anonymous sperm donor another couple used will be diagnosed with it.

(Unless the particular condition is known to be more prevalent among certain subgroups, in which case screening might well be appropriate. My husband and I did get screened to determine if we were carriers for the genes for Tay Sachs and several other conditions that are more prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews than among the general population. But we certainly weren't tested for the condition that this unfortunate man developed -- and I suspect we're likely at the same risk as he was. )

Rare conditions do crop up every once in a while. There are no guarantees in life.

[theeye]

One additional note: most genetic conditions are either extremely expensive, difficult or (in many cases) impossible to test for, aside from being extremely rare.

[realtraveller]

If the man's disease was genetic, wouldn't there have been some familial evidence? Wouldn't there have been a grandfather, cousin, niece, nephew etc. with this disease. Unless this disease skips many generations or unless it is some sort of rare mutation never before seen in his family or unless the man was adopted and doesn't know his family history, it would seem that he would know that he was at risk for this disease.

But I doubt the screening in most sperm donor centers goes much beyond a questionnaire. What use would DNA testing be? Only a few DNA markers for genetic diseases have as yet been identified. An honest answer on a questionnaire as to whether there are any familial diseases is probably more valuable at this stage of the science.

On a related subject, I read a few years ago of a woman getting AIDS from the seminal fluid of a sperm donor.

[jgibson2[$]]

If it's a 50/50 thing, either some relatives already presented with this and the center didn't ask much about family history, or it's a new mutation with him -- that happens.

Also, if he was donating 10 years ago, state of the art in genetic screening was nowhere near the pitiful state it's in today.

Finally, I'm a little more interested in the number of donations he was permitted to make. I suppose you could go around to multiple centers, but I thought that those places discouraged men from making more than a certain number of donations -- for reasons like this one and to decrease the probablity that related kids would end up together.


Then there was that disgusting DC doctor who was inseminating his patients with his own sperm -- even when the husband's was available. Sick, sick, sick!

[jgibson2[$]]

I decided to do a web search on "sperm bank". Requirements and information really vary.

You can order from the Sperm Bank of California which seems to take a fairly thorough history, although they don't seem to do genetic testing.

Then there's the list of genius sperm banks

Then there's XYTEX where they limit the man to "20 family units" or age 40 whichever comes first. They eliminate prospective donors for admitting to a family history of a long list of genetic conditions. They only do genetic screening for a few ethnically-related conditions, including Tay-Sachs, Thalassemia, and Sickle Cell trait where indicated. They also ban homosexual or bisexual men.

Then there's the Rainbow Flag Sperm Bank which actively recruits Gay men as well as men of all ethnic groups. They don't pay their donors, unlike most sperm banks and they deal exclusively with known donors. You have to agree to meet the donor before the baby's first birthday. They won't deal with you if you plan to engage in "ritual genital mutilation" (circumcision) or other forms of child abuse.
They only allow men to father 4 kids through their program and they encourage the families of those kids to get to know each other.

If none of those interests you, check out the Sperm Bank Directory for more options.

[kurt_messick]

I may have hundreds of children about whom I know nothing.

I have been a sperm donor both in Britain and America. Nearing 20 years ago, now.

I was a desirable candidate -- fair haired, blue eyes, tall, thin, high IQ, well educated.

I wonder how many priestlings are out there...