Posted on 05/23/2006 4:08:27 PM PDT by wagglebee
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/
Conception often happens against man's will and it often doesn't happen when someone wills it. And besides, letting *nature take it's course* is absolutely not the same thing as designer babies where someone gets tested and a bunch of eggs get fertilized and the best are picked out. THAT'S playing God.
I'm starting to look for a Black Lab boy as a companion for my Chocolate girl, which means poring over pedigrees and writing lots of letters . . .
People seeing themselves as the creators and designers will invariably create a type of hell on earth. It's a branch of utopianism. The creation isn't good enough, so we'll do a better job.
The creation is designed the way it is for a reason. We can work with it - we can ruin stuff, or go along with the rules and improve things up to a point. But going against natural law will always create hell.
I think we have some areas where there are a few guys producing lots of children as well. I'm sure something will pop up.
susie
Very good point. I have read articles about the problems in their kids. Very sad.
susie
Absolutely. And this is true whether the donation is done in a clinic or in the traditional manner.
Well said. Really "playing God" is a meaningless term, which only means that the accuser doesn't like a particular technology. Environmentalist wackos would say we're playing God by using GM crops.
If a kid is born lacking this (e.g. out of wedlock) then of course we do what we can to supply what HE NEEDS, e.g. the unwed mother gets married, or the child is adopted. This is in response to the child's needs. It repairs, to some exgent, his initial loss.
But to intentionally conceive a child outside of the marital embrace, lacking the normal elements of parentage, is to set aside his needs as being less important than the adults' wants. That's why it's selfishness on the part of the adults. And that's not right.
I agree. The term "playing God" should be retired. Its meaning is so non-specific that you spend the rest of your time haggling about definitions.
I'd like to see a good discussion at some point about the evils we bring on ourselves by failing to "play human."
That probably has some definition problems, too, but the answers might be more equally accessable.
Now I'm ducking out of here to do math with my son.Oh the glories of homeschooling. AAAAAUUGGGHHH!
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