Sperm donated in the UK is being exported and can be used to create large numbers of children in multiple countries, contradicting the strict limit of 10 families in place in the UK, experts warn.
A legal loophole means that while a single donor can be used to create no more than 10 families in UK fertility clinics, there are no restrictions on companies making sperm or eggs available for further fertility treatments abroad.
With the lifting of donor anonymity and the ability to trace genetic relatives at DNA testing sites, the possibility is increasing that some donor-conceived children will maintain relationships with dozens of biological half-siblings across Europe.
Professor Jackson Kirkman-Brown, president of the Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists (ARCS), is among those calling on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to tighten restrictions.
“If you think the 10-family limit is necessary in the modern world, then logically that should apply regardless of where the sperm comes from,” said Kirkman-Brown, who is also director of the Centre for Human Reproductive Sciences at the University of Birmingham. “There is evidence to show that some of the children who find very large families have difficulty accepting it.”
Until five years ago, the UK was primarily an importer of sperm, mostly from Denmark and the US. But as an increasing number of international sperm and egg banks have opened donation centres in the UK, the picture is becoming more complex.
According to HFEA data, 7,542 sperm straws were exported from the UK between 2019 and 2021 (an IVF cycle typically requires one sperm straw). The European Sperm Bank, which accounts for 90% of exports, applies a global limit of 75 families per donor and estimates that its donors help an average of 25 families.
Cryos, the world’s largest sperm and egg bank, which opened a sperm donation unit in Manchester in April, said it aims “to reach between 25 and 50 families per donor” worldwide.
Dr Lucy Frith, from the University of Manchester, who is researching donor conception experiences, says contact with biological half-siblings is often seen as a positive thing. “But when the number of siblings started to increase, [it] “It was not easy for us to maintain contact and relationships with an increasing and undetermined number of people,” he said. “There are no exact figures to indicate when the number becomes ‘too many’ and this depends on each individual, but in general it was considered that more than 10 was a large group.”
Another challenge is the indefinite number of future siblings. “Once you freeze sperm, it doesn’t age,” Kirkman-Brown said. In theory, a donor could continue to be used for years or even decades. “You may end up having donor siblings who are older than your parents, which we haven’t experienced yet,” she added.
Others pointed out that the increasing commercialisation of the market contrasted with the altruistic basis of sperm and egg donation, as UK law only allows compensation for time and expenses.
“Donors are presented as a beautiful gift to help someone create a family, not as something that can be achieved with the aim of maximising the number of births from their gametes and making as much money as we can from it,” said Professor Nicky Hudson, a medical sociologist at De Montford University. “When you talk to donors and present them with these possibilities, they are really surprised.”
Hudson is investigating egg donation, which is emerging as a new market thanks to advances in egg freezing techniques and could expand further when compensation is established. increases from £750 to £986 in October.
Egg delivery could open up new frontiers for biological motherhood. “The idea of a father with many children already exists in our cultural imagination,” Hudson added. “We don’t have that for women.”
“Egg donors strongly reject the idea of their eggs being sent abroad,” she added. “One told me that it is something akin to human trafficking.”
The reason for applying the limit of 10 families in licensed clinics, according to the HFEA, is that consultation with donors and donor-conceived people suggests that this is the number that people are comfortable with in terms of the number of potential donor-conceived children, half-siblings and families that could be created.
“As the HFEA has no jurisdiction over donations outside of HFEA-authorised clinics, there would be no control over how many times a donor is used in these circumstances,” said Rachel Reducing, the HFEA’s director of compliance and information.
Others suggested that this mandate could be expanded, comparable to the HFEA’s mandate that foreign donors cannot be anonymous.
“The HFEA is constrained by its legal obligations, but it could stipulate that it will only import gametes that meet the UK limit (10 families), from outside the UK,” Firth said. “So a donor who has donated in another country would have those offspring taken into account.”
“The HFEA’s position that this is outside its remit is not good enough,” said Sarah Norcross, director of fertility charity Progress Instructional Belief. “I’m not against more than 10 families if some are outside the UK, but 75, as some of these banks have chosen, is a huge number of relatives. Even if they say we can’t control the number of families overseas, they could insist that the number is made available to the beneficiary.”
Both the European Sperm Bank and Cryos said they expect to supply the majority of UK sperm to the country’s market, depending on customer demand.
The European Sperm Bank added: “We are following this issue very closely and are engaging in dialogue with donor-conceived individuals, families and expert groups to gain further information and a deeper understanding of their wishes and concerns.”
