Women warned over Danish clinic sperm donor
The head of Danish sperm bank Nordic Cryobank has warned women clients that one of their registered donors does in fact have a rare genetic disease.The donor has been found to carry the rare genetically inherited disorder Neurofibromatosis (NF1 or von Recklinghausen disease).
So far at least nine children that have been conceived with the help of the man’s sperm have developed the disease.
Neither the sperm bank nor the young donor was aware that he carried the rare and potentially dangerous genetic disease, which can cause serious disabilities.
If one of the parents carries the disease the risk of it being passed to their children is 50%.
The donor's sperm had been sent to 10-15 Danish clinics for use, but the sperm bank does not know how many times the sperm in question had been used by these clinics.
According to the Danish authority that regulates the sperm banks, this is not a separate incident. Specialist physician Anne Cathrine Bollerup said that they often get reports of genetic diseases spread through sperm donation.
Danish Ethics Council
The chairman of the Danish Council of Ethics, Jacob Birkler, has called for a tougher controls on sperm banks and more screening of the donors.
Cannot test for every genetic disease
However, council member and physician Lotte Hvas is sceptical. “You can safeguard against diseases like HIV and Hepatitis but you can’t expect donors to be genetically tested against everything,“ she said.
Magnus Nordenskjöld, professor of clinical genetics at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, commented “However carefully you choose your man, you can’t ever be sure. It is the same with donated sperm – one can never be completely certain. The sperm is no different just because it has been in a test tube”.
8000 genetic diseases
“There are almost 8,000 genetic diseases. Theoretically you could test for all of these, but it would hardly be worth it. Everyone knows that there is a risk. It is part of life.“
Read more at: thelocal.se