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Fourteen EBU Members are today publishing a collaborative investigation into an alarming donor case where one man’s sperm was used to conceive at least 197 children in 14 countries – some of whom were born with a rare and dangerous gene mutation.
Based on initial research by Danish broadcaster DR, and under the umbrella of the EBU Investigative Journalism Network (IJN), more than 30 journalists from 14 public service media organizations worked for months to obtain official records, interview families and clinicians, and analyse the failures that enabled the case to unfold across Europe’s borders.
The investigation documents how sperm from Donor 7069 – who has not done anything illegal or unethical – was distributed to 67 clinics across Europe over 17 years. In Belgium, Spain and Denmark, the number of conceptions far exceeded national family-limit rules. And despite a Rapid Alert issued in 2023, many parents were notified as late as mid-2025, in some cases having already heard the news from other affected families. Some families are yet to be reached.
Specialists in cancer genetics interviewed for the story said some of the children had already developed cancer, and some had already died. Doctors from the European GENTURIS network, which specializes in hereditary tumour risk, warn that urgent screening is needed to find all affected children and provide potentially life-saving monitoring.
The global fertility market, today valued at more than €45 billion, continues to grow despite fragmented and inconsistent regulation. While a new EU regulation (SoHO) will enter into force in 2027, it will still not impose EU-wide limits on the number of children per donor.
‘The case exposes the consequences of a system built on trust without the mechanisms to enforce it,’ said Liz Corbin, EBU Director of News.