US

Unregulated Sperm Donation Leads to 150 Children From a Single Donor

Lack of Sperm Donor Use Regulation Beginning to Cause Problems in the U.S.Can you imaging having at least 150 half brothers and sisters? This is a reality — however extreme — for some “donor children.”

The New York Times reports that it is estimated that 30,000 to 60,000 children are born from use of donated sperm each year. With little regulation in the United States for reporting children conceived using donor sperm and how many times a sperm donor can be used, there are a number of potential problems that could arise. The New York Times has more:

Although other countries, including Britain, France and Sweden, limit how many children a sperm donor can father, there is no such limit in the United States. There are only guidelines issued by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a professional group that recommends restricting conceptions by individual donors to 25 births per population of 800,000. [...]

“We have more rules that go into place when you buy a used car than when you buy sperm,” said Debora L. Spar, president of Barnard College and author of “The Baby Business: How Money, Science and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception.” “It’s very clear that the dealer can’t sell you a lemon, and there’s information about the history of the car. There are no such rules in the fertility industry right now.”

One family featured by the New York Times actually does have at least 150 half brothers and sisters from one donor, which begs the question: are these kids going to be alright? The mother of one of these children, Cynthia Daily, created a Web registry, not only for the brothers and sisters to get to know each other (they sometimes go on vacations together) but also to avoid the potential for incest:

There is growing concern among parents, donors and medical experts about potential negative consequences of having so many children fathered by the same donors, including the possibility that genes for rare diseases could be spread more widely through the population. Some experts are even calling attention to the increased odds of accidental incest between half sisters and half brothers, who often live close to one another.

“My daughter knows her donor’s number for this very reason,” said the mother of a teenager conceived via sperm donation in California who asked that her name be withheld to protect her daughter’s privacy. “She’s been in school with numerous kids who were born through donors. She’s had crushes on boys who are donor children. It’s become part of sex education” for her.

Lack of Sperm Donor Use Regulation Beginning to Cause Problems in the U.S.Founder of Donor Sibling Registry Wendy Kramer was reported as calling for new legislation to regulate sperm donor use:

“They think their daughter may have a few siblings,” Ms. Kramer said, “but then they go on our site and find out their daughter actually has 18 brothers and sisters. They’re freaked out. I’m amazed that these groups keep growing and growing.” [...]

“These sperm banks are keeping donors anonymous, making women babies and making a lot of money. But nowhere in that formula is doing what’s right for the donor families.”

Sperm donor regulation falls under the Food and Drug Administration as a Human Cell and Tissue or Cell and Tissue Bank Product. Most of what the FDA has on its website pertaining to sperm donor use has to deal with donation of sperm. For example, the donor must have a medical history screening and he must be screened for infectious diseases.

Lack of Sperm Donor Use Regulation Beginning to Cause Problems in the U.S.

The New York Times even reports that some sperm donors themselves are becoming concerned with how many potential children could be fathered from them:

“When I asked specifically how many children might result, I was told nobody knows for sure but that five would be a safe estimate,” said a sperm donor in Texas who asked that his name be withheld because of privacy concerns. “I was told that it would be very rare for a donor to have more than 10 children.”

He later discovered in the Donor Sibling Registry that some donors had dozens of children listed. “It was all about whatever they could get away with,” he said of the sperm bank to which he donated. “It is unfair and reprehensible to the donor families, donors and donor children.”

In 1984, the United Kingdom adopted regulations for sperm donor use from the Warnock Report, which recommends limiting the number of children fathered by one donor to 10.

Comments (75)

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  • packsack54
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:26am

    I read a report where a medical doctor, used his own sperm and had many child. He was fat and bald. Get genes.

    Report Post »  
  • packsack54
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:23am

    It sounds like a movie in the making from Hollywood.

    Report Post »  
  • TheSitRep
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:03am

    This seems to be pretty easy to fix.
    They could create a number based on the ssn of the donor.
    The couple would compare numbers before doing the nasty.

    But think about some neighborhoods (ghettos) where people are not mobile and men run around sirring kids with multiple women. In these homes you might have 6 kids all from different fathers.
    In the same tenement building, you know that half bros and sisters are getting it on.

    I mean look at BHO, he has something like 400 half brothers and sisters.

    Report Post » TheSitRep  
  • wise grandma
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:00am

    This can happen the old fashion way also. I once knew some one who’s mother had been married so many times and lived in so many states, that he didn’t know who he was and what his last name was or who his father was or where he was born. He did not have a birth certificate because he didn’t know what state he was born in, also his mother couldn‘t remember or didn’t care. He was called by a common nick name. So he made up a name and used the last husband’s last name and his wife made up a birth day for him. I don’t know what happened when he tried to sigh up for his SS.

    Report Post »  
  • Rayblue
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:58am

    I dunno. I get the picture of old homeless guys going in and squirting all over the place and smiling.
    Or nerdy geniuses with buck teeth filling a ketchup dispenser. Really, how do they do it ? I don’t really want to go to U-Tube and find out. It’ll be stuck in my computer for the police to see when they come to get me for writing this.

    Report Post » Rayblue  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:47am

    Wow, this is going to take family reunions to a whole ‘nother level! Not the worst thing on the planet, you know? There is so much going on that the registry should be enough, no sense getting crazy about it. Should also do some interesting things for some genetic studies.

    Report Post »  
  • Inappropriately_Conceived
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:35am

    This is not even half of the dirty little secrets in this industry that profits off of gamete substances. Apparently, as there is very little due diligence, oversight and reckless ignorance of state laws regarding contracts and “gifting” of property to a known third party, such as to sperm bank.
    Any woman can set up a sperm bank account, (lie about her relationship status which would require her spouse’s consent) and have any other known man with viable sperm donate directly to her account. NO questions for consent issues for gifting property asked. Apparently the ASRM sanctions this practice and considers sperm “separate property” if a married man donates sperm to a known receiver, not his wife.
    But if you are a woman, sensitive questions (invading privacy claims) are asked about your significant sexual relationships and legal consent is required by your spouse or partner before the “BIOLOGICAL TRANSACTION” can be executed as a “gifting of eggs” to a third party.

    What is good for the goose is not okay for the gander.

    SO AS A WIFE, your husband can be contributing sperm to lots of other women using a sperm bank and the SPERM BANK’s claim the WIFE HAS NO RIGHT TO KNOW OF THE TRANSACTION ! How many other other women are out there having half-siblings ??? This is how the system can be abused by desperate women who resort to desperate measures to have a child.

    Report Post »  
    • rangerp
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:48am

      If you really want to see unregulated sperm donation that leads to mega ammounts of children from one donner, your are looking in the wrong direction.

      Head down to your local hood, and see how many babies Tyrone, Pookey, and Ray-Ray have created with their unregulated sperm donations.

      Once Tyrone and crew donate to Tomika, Lashonda, Moesha, it results in all sorts of little babies that end up on the system

      Once on the system, us hard working, tax paying, responsible Americans (the ones Maxine Waters and the congressional black caucus hates) get to pay for them. They get food stamps, welfare, special programs, free lunch, then they get to grow up, jamm out to the rap music, lay up lazy (while millions of mexicans come here and do the much of the hard work), then turn around and make more sperm donations to create more illigitimate babies. Kind of like a cycle now.

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • Gamaliel
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:29am

      RANGERP – Very true! I had a social service job with this sort of a group. Everybody was related. One big unhappy incestuous family.

      Report Post »  
    • Rayblue
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:31pm

      Ray Ray ?
      I can understand Lasquisha or Chlamydia but Ray Ray ?

      Report Post » Rayblue  
    • Inappropriately_Conceived
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:33pm

      And then after these women realize they can’t afford their desperate, reproductive“choices”… they use the court systems paid by the tax payers to confiscate marital property with no considerations given to the wife’s 50% interest in the sperm donor’s earnings.
      If child support was capped for illegitimate births (outside of a marriage)… and the system did not provide free lawyers on the taxpayer‘s dime to abuse the court’s time to do after the sperm donors maybe these sperm stalkers would get married first before spawning ! A-HA !!!.. A NEW novel social engineering PLAN for cutting Government WASTE and over-spending !
      Make women responsible for their own bodies… isn’t this what feminism is all about. They don’t need men anymore, and when conception takes place with a doctor… Child support is not an option for the designer child by choice.

      Report Post »  
    • rangerp
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 2:26pm

      @Rayblue

      Sorry, how about Jamal or Andre?

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • Rayblue
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 4:24pm

      Velvetta or Quasimodo.

      Report Post » Rayblue  
    • Deuteronomy22
      Posted on September 7, 2011 at 6:04am

      Let’s not forget Apalachia, The Ozarks, the bayous, the coal regions and especially Kentucky.

      Report Post » Deuteronomy22  
  • drattastic
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:29am

    I had no idea sperm donation was such a big industry. Who are these people and why are they doing it in numbers large enough to have to worry about incest ? As far as I know ,not a single person that I’ve ever known has done this . I’m amazed.

    Report Post » drattastic  
    • Deuteronomy22
      Posted on September 7, 2011 at 5:59am

      I know they do screen for intelligence and an IQ above 70. That pretty much leaves out any Glem Beck fans and Palin and Bachman supporters.

      Report Post » Deuteronomy22  
  • Spinolio
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:29am

    What about unintended cases of insest? They could be brother and sister but not know it.

    Spinolio  
    • hidden_lion
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:56am

      In the ned it doesn’t matter that much. How do you think the human population grew in the first place? Even in animal husbandry it is common. As long as it isn’t multi-generational (ie, continuos) line breeding, chances are it won make any difference. Easy fix would be to have the donor banks cross pollinate…send there donations to random facilities in different areas of the country. We don’t need sperm regulations.

      Report Post » hidden_lion  
    • Stu Cozza
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:59am

      Sort of takes things beyond the basic concept of the Towanda (PA) ‘pools, no?. ;)

      Report Post » Stu Cozza  
    • OldVet
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 12:20pm

      HIDDEN_LION
      You said; “In the end it doesn’t matter”
      Your understanding of this problem is apparently limited.
      In animal husbandry the purpose of the in-breading is to produce characteristics which optimize the FOOD supply. In registered breeding programs the bloodlines are not allowed random consequences.
      Do you not realize that there are many genetic diseases identified today through DNA testing and research. What if this donor is positive for sickle cell anemia? Parents using a sperm bank should not be subject to the whims of anonymous strangers and uncaring businesses, but should have all possible information available to them. We are not animals after all.

      Report Post » OldVet  
  • OldVet
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:29am

    DNA matching should be used for the reason listed here and potentially for matching the child with the DNA of the adoptive father in these cases. At least they should match the Haplogroup. I think it would be better for all involved.

    Report Post » OldVet  
  • coffeenomics
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:16am

    I’m sorry, but if I had ended up wanting to go the sperm donor route, I would have asked a friend.

    Report Post »  
    • Chuck Stein
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:25am

      That would avoid all of the problems of “anonymity,” wouldn’t it?

      Report Post »  
  • ChiefGeorge
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:15am

    They’re worried about incest? They created this monster through tampering with the natural order of things. Now we need laws to make sure these kids don’t interbreed. Now we’re gonna see rights groups spring up for these 150 kids and who knows maybe there are 1000 of them from the same Dad?

    Report Post » ChiefGeorge  
    • Caniac Steve
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:29am

      I would agree and as my grandmother used to say..why are you complaing now for ? But you are correct in your statment…I mean after all has anyone ever accused the spermbanks for trying to create Xmen type of mutant or test subject for “medical research” ? have a good day…and thanks for your words

      Report Post » Caniac Steve  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:31am

      they have websites for it i guess.. that is what the article said. i agree though.. it’s not going to be pretty in the end…

      “For example, the donor must have a medical history screening and he must be screened for infectious diseases.” what about their mentallity? just saying…

      Report Post »  
    • OUTRIDER WRITER
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 11:37am

      @Chief***
      I bet we’ll be seeing new regulations for obtaining a marriage license fairly soon. For “donor children” if not for all.

      Report Post »  
    • Classicmustangmo
      Posted on September 7, 2011 at 6:59am

      Can you say “Brave New World” Aldous Huxley would be proud.

      Report Post » Classicmustangmo  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:04am

    Now we know where all the progressives are coming from – inbreeding!

    Report Post »  
  • drybackinpi
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 10:00am

    The world is a freak show.

    Report Post » drybackinpi  
  • The_Almighty_Creestof
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:57am

    What comes around…goes around…hehe

    Report Post »  
    • shirelover
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:01pm

      awww, that’s just sooo bad, on soooo many levels! lol

      Report Post » shirelover  
  • NuffSaid
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:53am

    This is about a clinic? When I saw the title of this article, I thought it was about some super masculine, well-endowed Italian dude from New York.

    I guess this multitudes of brothers and sisters appearing in a single community coming to sexual maturity at the same time is really a problem Even though this was a clinical mistake, unregulated societies, where mom can’t remember which kid was sired by which donor, there could be a high incidence of incest completely undetected. Do the children of incest ever have problems with learning? Holding jobs? Taking responsibility fro their behavior? I guess with enough incest, you could easily degrade the quality of DNA within a closed group.

    Report Post »  
  • voicecheck1
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:53am

    That little container looks like the one’s we used to fill with mustard ketchup and tartar sauce at Arther Treachers fish and chips – they used to make murals on the buses with them . h^h^

    Report Post »  
  • DanWesson455
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:52am

    My Buddy said I wasn’t a real man. I showed him.

    Report Post » DanWesson455  
  • CatB
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:50am

    Go away .. and peddle your stuff some place else. TROLL

    Report Post »  
  • moreteaplease
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:49am

    I guess going to a singles bar can also double as a family reunion now? Good grief!!!

    Report Post » moreteaplease  
  • AntonioRichards
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:49am

    great article

    Report Post »  
  • AlansTigg
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:49am

    all sorts of complications can arise from this

    Report Post » AlansTigg  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:41am

    And 14 of them belong to that clown car of a uterus, OctoMom.

    Report Post » biohazard23  
  • sbeejustsaying
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:41am

    To bad this problem couldn’t have been foreseen. Or then again maybe it was.

    Report Post » sbeejustsaying  
  • GeorgeWashingtonslept here
    Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:38am

    Wow , someone could end up in a relationship with , uh,,,,,oh their brother or sister……good grief!

    Report Post »  
    • atechgeek
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:46am

      Half brother I hope .. not that that makes it any better. Freaky.

      Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:48am

      Yea, makes one glad they were conceived the old fashioned way, s e x. Of course, no one wants the picture of their parents doing it stuck in their head.

      Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on September 6, 2011 at 9:52am

      Sounds like a case for DNA screening before s e x … or before DATING!

      Report Post »  
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