Sperm donor said to father 150 kids: Time to tighten regulation?

CBS/istockphoto

(CBS) Are lax U.S. sperm donation policies setting the stage for accidental incest?

Video: Sperm donor siblings find family ties

That's the fear among some parents and experts, after The New York Times reported a case in which a sperm donor may have fathered at least 150 children. This isn't the first such discovery - large clusters of these so-called "donor families" are cropping up on registry sites where parents search to see if their kid has donor half-siblings.

"My daughter knows her donor's number for this very reason," an unidentified mother of a teenager conceived via sperm donation in California, told the New York Times. "She's had crushes on boys who are donor children. It's become part of sex education," she said.

And incest isn't the only worry.

The revelations also raise fears that children from the same donor could share disease-causing genes that can spread through the population.

In July, ABC News reported 24 children of one donor were at risk for a potentially fatal hereditary heart defect. In August, the Daily Mail reported a donor with Asperger's syndrome fathered at least 22 children, some of which are already showing signs of autism.

How can a donor father so many kids? Some experts say the sperm donation industry needs tighter regulation.

"We have more rules that go into place when you buy a used car than when you buy sperm," Debora L. Spar, author of "The Baby Business: How Money, Science and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception," told the Times.

England's Human Fertilisation Embryology Authority caps the number of kids from one sperm donor at 10. France and Sweden also have laws limiting sperm donation, according to the Times.

But here in the U.S., there's no defined law, only recommended guidelines. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine recommends restricting conceptions to 25 births per 800,000-person population.

Dr. Robert G. Brzyski, chairman of the society, told the Times it's time to reassess the industry's standards.

Previously, Brzyski said, decisions were based on estimates of unintended circumstances when brothers and sisters might meet and marry. "I think those models were very limited in their vision when they were created, he told the Times. Now I think there needs to be a reassessment of the criteria and the policies regarding the appropriate number of offspring."

What do you think - does sperm donation require government regulation?

[NoSacredCow]

This inadvertent inbreeding may explain the rise of the Tea Party. ;p

[silvalgal]

Renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood predicted creepy scenarios like this a long time ago. Did the sperm donor have any say in how his sperm was used? His rights and preferences may have been violated too. Imagine if this alpha-sperm donor and daddy to 150 and counting had to pay child support? These extended, swampy families with the too-close-for-comfort branches would be right at home in any Gulf state, where the sheiks, emirs and ilk still father enormous families by various wives and concubines. Go to the Wiki page of any Gulf area autocrat from Saudi Arabia and Dubai to Qatar and you will see long lists of all the kids fathered with multiple mothers. It's crazy.

[hzelis]

Humans need to quit playing God..there is a reason why God made things like he did..smh

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Wow, 150 children. Poor guy. Despite the contracts stating to the contrary, eventually one of these moms is going to find herself down on her luck and try to make the father responsible. The courts have a long history of siding with the child's interests, and rightly so. So what happens when an argument is made that the woman can't provide for the child and therefore falls to the father to cough up cash, who knows how that will play out? A new tactic for gold-digging. I wouldn't want to be the guy with 150 time bombs ticking.

[t_k_shoults]

I don't think using sperm donors is all that bright.. Unless a woman is raped, there shouldn't be a term used such as 'sperm donor'..

Now before you make a bold statement saying 'how could I make the term 'sperm donor' apply to rape pregnancy only'? It's because I have a 6 year old daughter that is here in my life because of a rape & refer to her 'sperm donor' as just that, a sperm donor & nothing more!

My hubby adopted her before she turned 3 years old because we wanted to adopt which didn't mean had to be outside the home! Now, for people who want to have kids & say they don't want to adopt because you don't want to take on another parents 'health' issues, wouldn't you still be taking on the health issues of a 'sperm donor'?

I get so irritated when these 'celebrities' think they are hot crap because they flew around the world to take on another child they really didn't need, when they could have driven to the other side of town & adopt several kids for what they just paid in travel costs & actual adoption fees to another country.. I know some of them only do it as a tax write off & let their nannies raise the kids..

[jendreyfuss]

RE: "In August, the Daily Mail reported a donor with Asperger's syndrome fathered at least 22 children, some of which are already showing signs of autism."

OMG

[Dgunner]

Most of the guests on springer wilkos and maury shows have 10 to 15 year head start on the question at hand. To view a daily type that should never donate or breed can be viewed on these shows.

[DenverBroncofan]

So what else is new? Compton has 100's of sperm donors running around...there called "baby dadys"

[CommanderBil]

This is another absurd reason for the government to regulate our lives. There are 300 million people in United States. One person fathering 100 or even 1000 offspring is of no significance. Reproductive freedom is a fundamental right and it should not be infringed upon by government watchdogs.

[annmac38]

Reproductive freedom is one thing--flooding the country with hundreds of children from a few donors is madness. And please stop using 'infringement by government' as an argument for every selfish act done in the name of personal freedom. We need some monitors for this type of excess.

[Bojax39]

Yeah, like the "fundamental" right to go to an unscrupulous doctor like California's Michael Kamrava for "assisted reproductive technology" and get so jacked up with embryonic implants that babies are whelped in litters.

In 2008 Kamrava implanted 12 embryos into Nadya Suleman, even though that number far exceeds guidelines of 3 implants for a woman her age. After which the ignorant b*tch refused selective reduction of viable embryos resulting in octuplets being littered in Jan 2009.

These in addition to her 6 previous children total 14 kids, all by in vitro and all 14 supposedly by the same donor who she stated she dated once but realized after that she only wanted him to father her children and not pursue any relationship with him.

Suleman not only lied saying she was trying to use up frozen embryos so they wouldn't be destroyed, (after which it was proven that the implants were fresh and not frozen), but she burdened her parents, both nearing 70, with the need to pay for and help raise her brats.

In fact, grandpa had to go back to Iraq and get a job there while grandma stayed here to be run ragged by 14 kids. Grandma has stated
that her daughter does not contribute toward housing or food costs.

So it looks like Nadya will breed 'em but not feed 'em. Is THAT the "reproductive freedom" you speak of?

[uffdaron]

I say that the worst problem facing humaity is by far, over population. There is absolutely no need for sperm or egg donors at all. If fate has determined that certain ones will not be able to reproduce, that is sad, but not as sad as all the adoptable kids with no parents .
We have too many people as it is and limits should be placed on the number of children a couple may produce before encountering severe tax consequences.

Some of the sixth world countries are already facing mass starvation and it will not take long for this to become widespread. We have to get all religions out of the science of birth control and get serious about survival.

[pleiadies1]

Well, if this centred on a one horse town that might be a realistic fear. But New York has millions living there, the chances of this happening would be statistically insignificant.

[Annij_J6]

I am sorry to say this, but many who make comments like the above do have little understanding of population/demographics, and the adoption process. Almost all countries (regardless of their economic status) are very discriminate about who they allow to adopt their children. It is difficult and financially egregious to adopt internationally. This is why Madonna (even Madonna!)had to get a Malawian judge to allow her to adopt a boy from there. To adopt domestically is also incredibly difficult. Finally, overpopulation is ONLY occurring in economically underdeveloped nations. This high birth rate is an attempt by families in these countries to manage their own poverty--"human labour". This over population is also a major contributor to the economic depression of those countries. Western nations are seeing a dramatic decrease in population. In Switzerland the population has decreased by 44%! We are indeed facing a global population crisis, but not in the way you think.