Police report targets Danish sperm bank over donor limits

Danish broadcaster DR reports that European Sperm Bank, one of the world’s largest sperm banks, has been reported to police after sperm from 81 donors was used to create children in more Danish families than allowed by law.

Documents obtained by DR from the Danish Patient Safety Authority show that sperm from 186 of the bank’s donors has resulted in more children than either permitted or recommended in Denmark.

Two sets of rules apply

For donors recruited since 2013, the legal limit is 12 Danish families per donor. Sperm from 81 donors recruited after that date was used by more than 12 women, in breach of the law. The Danish Patient Safety Authority has reported European Sperm Bank to the police over those cases.

Another 105 donors were recruited before 2013. They exceeded the recommended limit that applied at the time, but their cases do not constitute breaches of the law and are not part of the police report.

For older donors, the recommended limit was 25 children per donor. One European Sperm Bank donor is the biological parent of 110 children in Denmark alone, more than four times that recommendation.

Donors and families have not been contacted

European Sperm Bank has not contacted the affected donors, women or families. The bank is still the only party that knows the identities of the donors whose sperm was sold beyond the limits.

European Sperm Bank director David Truels Hansen said the bank does not believe it can notify families or donor-conceived children because that would involve the donors’ personal data.

Questions over hereditary disease risks

DR has asked whether any of the 81 donors whose sperm was sold beyond the limits have been blocked because of an increased risk of hereditary disease. European Sperm Bank has not answered the question.

DR previously reported on a donor known as Kjeld, who unknowingly carried a hidden genetic mutation. The sperm bank discovered the mutation only after children developed cancer and then stopped distributing the donor’s sperm. By that point, it had been sold in 14 countries and had resulted in more than 200 donor-conceived children.

After the donor’s sperm was blocked, fertility clinics were instructed to contact all affected women.