A man with a rare cancer-causing gene mutation donated sperm that was used to conceive at least 67 children, 10 of whom have now been diagnosed with cancer, a report by The Guardian said. The shocking case has reignited warnings from experts about the social and medical risks of using one donor’s sperm in numerous conceptions across the globe.
Dozens of children were conceived using the man’s sperm between 2008 and 2015, and the emerging health issues have raised serious concerns about the difficulty of tracing so many families when a genetic disease is discovered.
23 children have gene
The families of two children conceived with the donor’s sperm were contacted by fertility clinics after doctors linked their illness to a rare genetic variant. The European Sperm Bank, which supplied the sperm, confirmed the presence of a TP53 gene mutation—a variant known to increase cancer risk.
So far, 67 children from 46 families across eight European countries have been tested for the gene, and 23 have been found to carry it. Of those, 10 children have been diagnosed with leukemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. While the sperm bank enforces a limit of 75 families per donor, the actual number of offspring remains undisclosed.
The TP53 gene variant was not known to cause cancer at the time of donation in 2008, and the donor was considered medically fit to contribute samples.
Experts issue warning
Experts warn that even a limit of 75 families per donor can lead to “abnormal dissemination of genetic disease,” as not every donation is tested for extremely rare mutations. They have called for better tracking systems for donor usage and full transparency with recipients—especially since families may be spread across multiple countries, making post-diagnosis tracing nearly impossible.
Julie Paulli Budtz, a spokesperson for the European Sperm Bank, issued a statement on behalf of the organization:
“We are deeply affected by this case.” She explained that while the donor had undergone extensive testing, “it is scientifically simply not possible to detect disease-causing mutations in a person’s gene pool if you don’t know what you are looking for.”
She added, “We welcome continued dialogue on setting an internationally mandated family limit and have advocated for this on several occasions. This is also why we have proactively implemented our own international limit of 75 families per donor.”
