News

Five hundred children fathered by just seventeen men, these new figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) highlight a significant risk of incest and gene defects. In fact, siblings could meet and form relationships without realising that they are related.

If the father passes on a hereditary risk of cancer, for instance, the risks to the child are even greater.

For example, "In 2013, it was discovered that Danish sperm donor Henrik Koch may have unknowingly passed on a cancer-causing illness to 50 percent of the children created using his sperm".

Between 1991 and 2015:
17 men each fathered at least 30 babies.
104 men each fathered between 20 and 29 babies.
1,557 men fathered between 10 and 19 babies.
Over 6,000 men each fathered up to 9 babies.