Fourteen EBU Members are today publishing a collaborative investigation into an alarming donor case where one man’s sperm was used to conceive at least 197 children in 14 countries – some of whom were born with a rare and dangerous gene mutation.

Based on initial research by Danish broadcaster DR, and under the umbrella of the EBU Investigative Journalism Network (IJN), more than 30 journalists from 14 public service media organizations worked for months to obtain official records, interview families and clinicians, and analyse the failures that enabled the case to unfold across Europe’s borders.

The latest IJN investigation reiterates the unique strength of collaborative international journalism to bring critical public-interest stories to light, such as gaps in industry regulation and oversight.  

A story told through collaboration 

The work began when reporters from Danish public broadcaster DR followed early leads in the spring, filing freedom of information requests and identifying the donor’s links to clinics across Europe.  

Recognizing the story’s scale, DR brought the case to the EBU Investigative Journalism Network in October 2025. The IJN mobilized its cross-border capacity to assemble a team of journalists from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK and the EBU, in Switzerland. 

Over subsequent weeks, the team: 

• Coordinated FOI requests and follow-ups to health authorities in close to 20 countries 
• Interviewed parents, doctors, fertility clinics, sperm banks and legal experts 
• Shared datasets, research and recorded testimonies across borders 
• Scrutinized official statements, including those of the European Sperm Bank and national regulators. 

As information flowed in, the scope of the case expanded from an initially reported 67 affected children to 197 confirmed with more cases expected in countries yet to release official figures.  

The EBU IJN ensured that each new element of the story was verified, legally vetted and built into a coherent international picture. 

‘Working together in the EBU's Investigative Journalism Network has shown that collaboration is much more than the sum of its parts,’ said Erling Groth, documentaries editor at DR. ‘We would never have had the resources to research and contact sources throughout Europe on our own.’ 

Findings with real public health implications 

The investigation documents how sperm from Donor 7069 – who has not done anything illegal or unethical – was distributed to 67 clinics across Europe over 17 years. In Belgium, Spain and Denmark, the number of conceptions far exceeded national family-limit rules. And despite a Rapid Alert issued in 2023, many parents were notified as late as mid-2025, in some cases having already heard the news from other affected families. Some families are yet to be reached.  

Specialists in cancer genetics interviewed for the story said some of the children had already developed cancer, and some had already died. Doctors from the European GENTURIS network, which specializes in hereditary tumour risk, warn that urgent screening is needed to find all affected children and provide potentially life-saving monitoring.  

A booming industry lacking oversight 

The global fertility market, today valued at more than €45 billion, continues to grow despite fragmented and inconsistent regulation. While a new EU regulation (SoHO) will enter into force in 2027, it will still not impose EU-wide limits on the number of children per donor. 

‘The case exposes the consequences of a system built on trust without the mechanisms to enforce it,’ said Liz Corbin, EBU Director of News. ‘This is precisely why public service media collaborate across borders, to reveal issues that no regulator or newsroom could see or report on from a single vantage point.’ 

READ THE FULL REPORT