ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law 21: genetic screening of gamete donors: ethical issues

• Published in: Human reproduction (Oxford) Vol. 29; no. 7; pp. 1353 - 1359
• Main Authors: Dondorp, W, De Wert, G, Pennings, G, Shenfield, F, Devroey, P, Tarlatzis, B, Barri, P, Diedrich, K, Eichenlaub-Ritter, U, Tüttelmann, F, Provoost, V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.07.2014
• Subjects: Advisory Committees; Ethics, Medical; Europe; Female; Genetic Testing; Guidelines as Topic; Heterozygote; Humans; Informed Consent; Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous - ethics; Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous - legislation & jurisprudence; Male; Oocyte Donation - ethics; Oocyte Donation - legislation & jurisprudence; Patient Safety; Risk; Tissue Donors - ethics; Tissue Donors - legislation & jurisprudence; United States; United States; Europe
• ISSN: 0268-1161; 1460-2350
• DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deu111

This Task Force document explores the ethical issues involved in the debate about the scope of genetic screening of gamete donors. Calls for expanded donor screening arise against the background of both occasional findings of serious but rare genetic conditions in donors or donor offspring that were not detected through present screening procedures and the advent of new genomic technologies promising affordable testing of donors for a wide range of conditions. Ethical principles require that all stakeholders' interests are taken into account, including those of candidate donors. The message of the profession should be that avoiding all risks is impossible and that testing should remain proportional.