Sperm Donated from Iceland to Albania - Sperm Donor with Cancer Risk - Many Families Uninformed.
Coordinated by the EBU Investigative Journalism Network, an investigation by DW and several other European public broadcasters reveals that for more than 15 years, women in at least 14 countries in Europe and elsewhere were sold sperm from donor 7069.
From Iceland to Albania and beyond, at least 197 children were conceived with the sperm of donor 7069, the investigation shows. It is possible that the number is much higher - ESB has not yet revealed the total number of children conceived with his sperm. And so doctors are unable to say whether everyone has been tested at this point.
Thus, a rare and potentially fatal genetic mutation was sold to families across Europe.
Some of the children conceived with sperm from the same donor have already developed two different types of cancer; others "have already died," said Edwige Kasper, a biologist specializing in genetic predispositions to cancer. She is counseling some of the affected families.
Legally, the sperm bank is required to notify all fertility clinics to which it has exported gametes of any genetic abnormalities that arise. The clinics, in turn, inform the parents. Yet DW and its partners have learned of several cases of families who were never officially informed that their children might be carriers./DW
