Egg and sperm donor banks must adhere to certain safety standards, related to infectious disease testing. However, the donors themselves are not required to have genetic testing. That's why it's important for you to know the standards of the bank you want to work with -- and know what questions to ask.
Posted June 25, 2010 at 7:55 AM
Insight: Testing your sperm bank's genes
Expert Insight
submitted by Pamela Callum, M.S., Certified Genetic Counselor, California Cryobank
The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), American college of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), and National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) publish practice guidelines with recommendations as to which genetic tests should be offered to individuals when they are planning a pregnancy. These recommendations are often applicable to individuals who donate egg and sperm cells as well. But, unlike infectious disease testing, which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), most genetic tests are not required to be performed on donors.
The evaluation of a donor’s family history by a trained healthcare professional, combined with certain genetic tests, can help to identify risks for medical problems in that donor’s offspring. In addition, if the company follows up on the health of other children born from a particular donor, this can provide additional information about the health risks to other offspring of that same donor.
However, it’s important to understand that genetic tests and a donor’s family history evaluation do not completely eliminate the risk of medical problems.
Be an informed consumer and make sure your questions about genetic testing have been answered before selecting a donor. Answers to these inquiries should be readily available on your sperm bank’s website or from their staff.
Some questions to ask include:
- What genetic tests were performed on your donor?
- What were the results of the tests?
- What are the limitations of the tests?
- If the donor had an abnormal genetic test result, would he still be available as a donor?
- Why don’t they perform a certain test you are interested in having performed?
- How does the company determine which genetic tests to perform on their donors?
- Will they perform testing for a specific condition in your family?
- How is the donor’s family history evaluated?
- What staff member performs those evaluations and what are that individual’s qualifications?
- Does the company follow up on the health of children born from its donors?
- How do they manage reports of medical problems in the donor’s offspring?
You can learn more about California Cryobank genetic evaluations from its website information about Genetic Counseling or call its Genetics
Department at (877) 743-6384.
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