How Consumer DNA Testing is Changing the Landscape of Egg and Sperm Donation
hubie writes:
An ongoing study reveals the multiple ways people now seek information about genetic relatives:
People conceived by sperm and egg donation, as well as their parents and donors, are making use of commercial genetic DNA testing in a variety of ways little considered in earlier reports, according to the interim results of a qualitative study presented here at ESHRE's 38th annual meeting in Milan. The widespread availability of commercial DNA databanks 'is transforming how people involved in donor conception seek information about genetic relatives', said the study's first author Dr Lucy Frith, Reader in Bioethics at the University of Manchester, UK.
With the emerging availability of commercial genetic testing and the possibility of tracking family history via a saliva sample matched against a database of DNA sequences, it has been noted that the 'anonymity' of sperm and egg donors whose gametes have been used in donor conception can no longer be guaranteed.(1) Similarly, donor-conceived children whose parents have not told them of their origins could be exposed to the possibility of accidental and potentially distressing revelations. [...]
The many ways in which commercial consumer genetic testing services are now being used to gather donor information - as illustrated by this study - have huge implications. Donor-conceived people can use these services to conduct a DNA test to search for their genetic parent; recipient parents can test the child to identify the donor and any other half-siblings; and donors themselves can also take a DNA test to search for the offspring of their donations. And crucially for the implications of these possibilities, the donor (or the donor-conceived child) need not be in a database to be identified - as a close genetic relative may be in the database and thereby traceable.
These developments, said Dr Frith, have been rapid and seemingly irrevocable, even in the fast-moving world of fertility. They have also meant that the fertility sector itself is now suddenly faced with a new responsibility to ensure that both gamete recipients and donors are aware of the wide-ranging possibilities of identification and that those who are unexpectedly exposed to that risk have access to adequate support and counselling.
If you made an anonymous donation many years ago, would you want to be contacted?
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