Swedish Government Aims to Enhance Oversight of Gamete Donors

The Swedish government is set to improve its oversight of gamete donors, as current regulations rely on individual clinics and sperm banks to maintain records. Presently, there is no centralized system to monitor whether a donor contributes to multiple clinics, raising concerns about compliance with existing limits on the number of families a single donor can assist.

Currently, the identity of donors is stored by the clinic where the child was conceived, with these records retained for 70 years. Children conceived through donations will be able to access this information upon reaching adulthood. However, the existing system has faced criticism for its lack of security and oversight.

In response to these issues, Health Minister Acko Ankarberg Johansson announced that the government will direct the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) to establish a national donor registry. This initiative will necessitate legislative changes, and Socialstyrelsen will be tasked with drafting the necessary provisions and managing the new registry.

According to the minister, the absence of a national register has allowed some donors to father children across multiple families, potentially violating regulations that limit donors to contributing to six families. Without centralized data, tracking compliance with these rules has proven challenging.

The Swedish government plans to advocate for stricter controls on sperm donations at the European Union level. The proposed registry will include detailed information about the donor's identity, the number of recipients, ongoing treatments, and the total number of families established from the donor's contributions.

Linda Savolainen, an investigator at Socialstyrelsen, emphasized the necessity for such a registry. The agency is also hoping for a future EU agreement that could potentially include imported gametes in the registry. Currently, gametes are treated as an export commodity, and changes in legislation across various European nations have increased the demand for donor services.

Recent discoveries have highlighted the issue of multiple children being born from the same donor, leading to large genetic half-sibling groups. In Sweden, there is a significant reliance on donations from Danish sperm banks, which can result in a single donor contributing to the births of numerous children globally.

Within the EU, discussions are ongoing regarding the establishment of a united registry for gamete donors. The Nordic ethical councils, including Sweden's State Medical Ethics Council (Smer), have recently called for stringent international regulations on how many children a single donor can father.

These ethical councils are urging politicians across the Nordic countries to pursue this matter within the EU framework. The Swedish government has expressed its support for initiating collaborative efforts with other Nordic nations to bring this topic to the forefront at the European level.

By May 30 of next year, Socialstyrelsen is expected to report on the feasibility of implementing a national registry for donated sperm and eggs in Sweden. This initiative is further underscored by the upcoming EU regulation set to take effect the following year, which aims to enhance the monitoring of donation practices.

Fact Box: National Registers in the Nordic Region

As of now, both Sweden and Denmark lack national registers for gamete donations. In contrast, Finland and Norway have established such systems. Norway's register, managed by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health since 2024, enables individuals conceived through donation to access their donor's identity. Those over 18 can electronically verify their donor status, and for donations made after January 1, 2021, they can also obtain the donor's name and personal identification number.