Cynthia Daily has only one son, but
that son has 149 half-siblings.
Ms. Daily, a social worker from
Washington, conceived via artificial insemination. Using the identification
number on the sperm sample she received and a website called the Donor Sibling
Registry, she was able to track down 149 other children who had been conceived
from the same sperm donor. “It’s wild when we see them all together — they all
look alike,” she says.
The United States does not limit
the number of children that may be born from a single donor. The American Society
for Reproductive Medicine suggests that one donor be have no more than 25
children per 800,000 people in a given area, but sperm banks are under no
obligation to follow this recommendation. Issues of donor restriction are
further complicated by the fact that many sperm banks distribute over large
areas, often nationwide. Additionally, sperm donors may give to many different
banks, often under conditions of anonymity.
There are significant reasons to be
concerned about overdonation. Especially in small communities, there is a very
real chance that two children of the same donor could meet and enter into a
potentially incestuous relationship. Unsuspected incest aside, there is also
the risk of propagating otherwise rare genetic defects.
Other countries, including Britain
and France, limit the number of children that can be conceived from one donor’s
sperm. France even does this while still preserving the donor’s right to
anonymity, a potentially thorny issue. There is no good reason that a similar
limit could not work in the United States.
Because of the risks involved to
the children produced from artificial insemination, the United States should
limit the number of children that can be produced from any one donor’s sperm.
Sources:
Mroz, Jaqueline. “One Sperm Donor,
150 Sons and Daughters.” The New York
Times
Frith, Lucy. “Gamete Donation and
Anonymity.” Oxford Journals
1 comment:
I think some of the concerns you raise here are not particular to only sperm donnors. For example, there is an equal chance if not higher of adopted siblings in different families meeting and having a relationship. If the concern is genetic diversity that is an entirely different matter. However, I think that the numbers even as high as 150 children in a population of 400 million spread over the United States could not effect genetic diversity in the slightest.
Even if all 30,000 babies born by sperm donations each year were from donors who each had 150 children, it is highly unlikely that they would propagate a decrease in genetic diversity. Of the 5.6 million children born in the US per year I do not see there being a significant impact on genetic diversity form a source that only generates about 30,000 children from approximately half as many donors. In addition, donations allow for screening of patient medical history. This effects the opposite reaction implied by your article. Sperm bank do not arbitrarily match sperm and egg, medical histories are checked and this allows for the prevention of rare genietic diseases.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/unregulated-sperm-donor-use-allows-for-150-children-from-one-donor/
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