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Dangers of Artificial Procreation - Five Children Suffer Genetic Disease Passed Down By Sperm Donor

By Gudrun Schultz

MICHIGAN, United States, May 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Demonstrating again the dangers of artificial procreation, doctors reported last week on the case of five children fathered by the same sperm donor have inherited a rare and often fatal disease from him.

The rare disease naturally affects only about one child in five million, said Dr. Lawrence A. Boxer, director of paediatric haematology and oncology at the University of Michigan, who discovered the cases. When four families with affected children came to him in one year, "it became pretty striking," he told the AP.

The families had seven children, including three sets of twins, from the same donor. All but two carried an identical strain of the disease.

Severe congenital neutropenia results in a missing white blood cell which leaves the children vulnerable to infections and leukemia. Daily injections with a drug called Neupogen can help the children resist infections, but it does not protect from leukemia. The drug costs $200 per day, although Dr. Boxer told the AP many families receive it for free if they participate in a study.

In very rare instances, a carrier of the gene will not develop the disease. Doctors speculate that the donor was one such carrier, since he would have been too ill to be accepted as a sperm donor if he had developed the disease himself.

The children have a 50% chance of passing on the gene and the disease to their own children.

While sperm donors are routinely tested for common genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia, they are not tested for the rare disorders that affect only a few, said Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson at the Baylor College of Medicine.

To protect the anonymity of the families and the donor, Dr. Boxer declined to reveal the name of the sperm bank. It is not known if the man has fathered additional children, or if he is aware of the disease he carries.

See LifeSiteNews.com's special section on the dangers of artificial procreation:
http://www.lifesite.net/features/invitro/

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