Younger men should consider freezing their sperm to avoid their children having genetic disorders if they choose to have them later in life, according to a bioethics expert.
Freezing eggs from women planning families when they are older is not unusual, but bioethicist Kevin Smith, of the School of Science, Engineering and Technology at Abertay University in Dundee, believes freezing should also be considered for sperm to avoid the risk of “gradually reducing human fitness in the long term”.
In a paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Smith says modern genetic studies have confirmed that the sperm of older men contains a greater number of mutations and that a minority of those mutations present a risk to the health of future children.
An abstract to his paper in the journal adds: “If demographic trends towards later fatherhood continue, this will likely lead to more children suffering from genetic disorders.
He said options to counter the risk include health education to promote earlier fatherhood and “incentives for young sperm donors and state-supported universal sperm banking”.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Freeze young men’s sperm to avoid genetic disorders, says scientist
