Fifty-two children were conceived in Belgium between 2008 and 2017 by the same sperm donor carrying a potentially cancer-causing gene, the Belgian Ministry of Health announced today in connection with a case that affected several European countries, with Bulgaria among the potentially affected countries, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
According to a recent investigation by the British newspaper "The Guardian", a donor carrying a rare mutation that can lead to cancer has enabled the conception of at least 67 children in Europe. Since then, 10 cases of cancer have been diagnosed.
The donor was in good health, had no hereditary predispositions to diseases and was tested in accordance with current regulations.
However, he is a carrier of a rare gene whose abnormalities can cause Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a hereditary disease that significantly increases the risk of various forms of cancer.
A warning in this regard was issued in 2023 after the detection of cancers in some children conceived with the donor's sperm at a center in Denmark.
According to the Belgian Ministry of Health, several other countries are potentially affected: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Greece, the Netherlands and Poland.
The Belgian State Agency for Medicines and Health Products was warned back in 2023. However, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroek says he was only informed on Monday.
"This information should have been immediately passed on to the minister responsible for the case," his ministry said.
In Belgian reproductive medicine centers, the case affected 37 families with a total of 52 children born between 2008 and 2017. It is not explicitly stated that all of them live in Belgium.
Since 2007 Belgian law has since stipulated that genetic material from the same donor can be shared between a maximum of six women.
"The six-woman rule was exceeded at the national level and also at the level of one center," the ministry regretted.
The Belgian government refused to say whether and how many cases of cancer had been diagnosed in the conceived children.