The World from PRX

A person wearing blue gloves is handling a pipette in a laboratory setting, with reflections visible on a glass surface.

The implications of a sperm donor carrying a rare cancer-causing gene

Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Naomi Conrad from our partners at Deutsche Welle about the obligations that sperm banks have when they find genetic abnormalities in their donations.

DW
Updated:
7:35

In this file photo embryologist Brad Wilson is seen in a glass reflection while placing a sperm sample onto a counting chamber as he prepares the sample for insemination in a lab at Melbourne IVF in Melbourne, Australia, May 15, 2018.

Wong Maye-E/AP/File photo

A sperm donor whose genetic material was used to conceive nearly 200 children in at least 14 European countries didn’t know he carried a mutation that increases the risk of cancer.

The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler spoke with investigative journalist Naomi Conrad from our partners at Deutsche Welle, DW, to discuss the obligations that sperm banks have when genetic abnormalities are discovered.

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