By Haifa Chairunisa
A Europe-wide investigation has uncovered that a single sperm donor, later found to carry a rare cancer-linked genetic defect, has fathered at least 197 children in multiple countries, exposing dozens of families to a severe inherited health risk. Medical specialists say some of the children have already developed cancer, and several have died, while many others may only learn of their risk years from now.
The donor’s sperm was used in fertility treatments for almost 20 years after he began donating as a student in 2005. It was supplied to 67 clinics across 14 countries. Although the sperm was not distributed to UK clinics, regulators have confirmed that a small number of British women travelled abroad, mainly to Denmark, to undergo treatment using the donor’s sperm and have since been contacted.
The man passed all standard donor checks and is not ill. However, researchers later identified a mutation affecting the TP53 gene in a proportion of his sperm. This gene plays a key role in stopping cells from becoming cancerous. While most of the donor’s body does not carry the mutation, children conceived from affected sperm inherit it in every cell, leaving them with Li-Fraumeni syndrome — a rare condition associated with an extremely high lifetime risk of cancer, often beginning in childhood.
Doctors began raising alarms after treating multiple children with unusually similar cancer patterns linked to the same donor. So far, at least 23 children have been confirmed to carry the mutation, with many diagnosed with cancer and some facing multiple tumours. Clinicians warn that managing the condition requires lifelong monitoring, including frequent scans and, in some cases, preventive surgery.
The European Sperm Bank, based in Denmark, said the mutation could not have been detected under current screening standards and stated that the donor was suspended as soon as the issue emerged. The company acknowledged that limits on how many families could use a single donor had been exceeded in certain countries and said it was working with national authorities.
The case has intensified debate over sperm donation practices across borders. There is no international rule governing how widely a donor’s sperm can be used, and experts say growing reliance on large international sperm banks has created regulatory gaps. Campaigners argue that stricter global limits are remembered less for preventing rare genetic diseases than for protecting children from the medical and psychological consequences of discovering they are one of hundreds of biological siblings.
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