When a woman’s phone rang one morning in June, the caller from a Belgian fertility clinic told her that the sperm donor she had used in 2011 carried a rare mutation in the TP53 gene, which suppresses cancerous growth. The mutation, linked to a lifelong high risk of multiple cancers that can appear at young ages, gives a child a 50% chance of inheriting it. Told it was “urgent” to screen her teenage daughter, the mother learned her child did indeed carry the mutation.
The donor, identified in the investigation as donor 7069, was permanently blocked by the European Sperm Bank (ESB) in October 2023 after the mutation was detected in his samples. The ESB says it contacted clinics and parents “as soon as possible,” but the mother was told she received the call a year and a half after the ESB discovered the mutation because a computer migration initially lost her contact details.
An investigation coordinated by the EBU Investigative Journalism Network and conducted by DW and several European public broadcasters found that for more than 15 years the ESB sold sperm from donor 7069 to fertility clinics in at least 14 countries. The bank exported his sperm to 67 clinics, and at least 197 children were conceived with it — a number that may be higher because the ESB has not disclosed a full total. Some donor-conceived children have already developed cancers; others have died, according to biologist Edwige Kasper, who counsels affected families.
Legally, sperm banks must alert clinics to any genetic abnormalities, and clinics are expected to inform parents. Yet the investigation uncovered multiple families who were never officially informed and only learned through other parents or media reports. Dorte Kellermann of Denmark said she learned in November 2023 from another parent and had not been contacted by the bank or clinic she used. Dr. Svetlana Lagercrantz, who treats hereditary cancers, told Sweden’s broadcaster that several of her patients were informed only after media coverage — “a big frustration.”
The TP53 mutation requires lifelong, regular medical surveillance because early detection improves outcomes. Because cancers caused by such mutations can be rare in children, symptoms may be missed if clinicians are unaware of the genetic risk.
Timeline and testing
The ESB’s donor profile for 7069 first appeared online as early as 2007 under the name “Kjeld.” In 2020 the bank received notice that a child conceived with his sperm had the TP53 mutation; the donor’s stored sperm was quarantined and underwent further genetic testing. Initial results were reported as negative, a finding the ESB attributes to the mutation being present only in some of the donor’s sperm cells (mosaicism). The donor showed no symptoms and his sperm was returned to the market.
In 2023 another child was diagnosed with the mutation. Retesting then found the mutation present in a portion of the donor’s sperm, prompting a permanent ban and renewed efforts to notify affected families.
Industry practices and regulation
The ESB, headquartered in Copenhagen and owned by private investment firm Perwyn, has grown into a major exporter of donor sperm worldwide. In 2023 the ESB reported more than 60 million Danish kroners in profit (about €8 million), up from 35 million the previous year.
Sperm banks present donor profiles online and offer extra services — audio interviews, childhood photos and expanded genetic testing for additional fees. Routine screening does not include rare mutations like TP53, and there is currently no international database to track donors across banks or countries. Economic incentives lead banks to sell the same donor’s sperm to many families: each frozen “straw” can sell for about €1,000, and a donor’s material can be used repeatedly.
The ESB states it has self-imposed limits: most donors are capped at 75 families, with selected markets offered donors with a worldwide limit of 25 families; clients can pay for exclusivity (the ESB cites €39,000). However, the ESB acknowledged that limits had been exceeded in some countries, citing inadequate reporting from clinics, non-robust systems and fertility tourism. DW’s research shows the at least 197 children conceived with donor 7069 clearly exceeded ESB policy and national limits in some places: Belgium alone recorded 53 children conceived from the donor despite a national limit of six women per donor, prompting Belgian investigations.
Regulation across Europe is a patchwork. Some countries cap donor offspring or limit treatments to certain groups; others do not. Germany has no formal national cap, though industry guidelines of 15 families are common and individual banks, such as the Berliner Samenbank, set limits and ask donors to declare they have not sold sperm to other banks. New EU regulations on medically assisted reproduction passed in 2024 do not set an EU-wide cap on donor offspring.
Calls for change
Donor-conceived people and advocacy groups are pushing for stricter limits and registries. Spenderkinder, a German association of donor-conceived children, calls for a global cap of six families per donor and a global donor registry to make it easier to notify families quickly if a donor is later found to carry a dangerous mutation.
Voices from clinics and labs say the scale of the ESB’s reach magnified the impact. Ann-Kathrin Klym of the Berliner Samenbank described the number of children from donor 7069 as “enormous” and stressed the importance of tighter controls and better tracking.
Human impact
The mother in France who learned of her daughter’s diagnosis said she feels “enormous guilt” that choosing donor conception may have passed on a potentially life-threatening mutation, though she does not blame the donor, who was unaware he carried it. Families now face a lifetime of regular checks and the uncertainty that comes with an inherited high cancer risk.
The investigation’s reporting partners included DR, RTBF, VRT, NOS, SVT, RUV, DW, NRK, RTVE, ORF, YLE, FTV and the BBC, coordinated by the EBU Investigative Journalism Network. Edited by Milan Gagnon; fact checking by Julett Pineda and the EBU Investigative Journalism Network; legal support by Florian Wagenknecht.
If you or your child carry a genetic mutation or disease likely linked to an egg or sperm donation, contact [email protected].
