DNA and Online Search Finds Birth Parent

stuyman writes "NewScientist is reporting that anonymous sperm donation is not so anonymous anymore. An enterprising 15 year old tracked down his biological father, an anonymous sperm donor, using an online genealogy service and an online information service."

Comments

He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down

[old7]

Though his donor had been anonymous, his mother had been told the man's date and place of birth and his college degree. Using another online service, Omnitrace.com, he purchased the names of everyone that had been born in the same place on the same day. Only one man had the surname he was looking for, and within 10 days he had made contact.

Knowing the place and date of birth of the father would narrow the search considerably. Even in a large city it could narrow the search to a few dozen. -Old7

Re:He didn't need DNA to narrow the search down

[Buran]

If you have to ask, you aren't adopted.

Re:People deserve all they get

[Mornelithe]

Uh...

What exactly is wrong with donating to a sperm bank? It allows people to have kids that might otherwise not be able to.

And what exactly is wrong with using the money for beer? Beer is good.

And how exactly could the child become emotionally scarred? By finding out at least one of his genetic parents is not part of his family? Why exactly does that matter? He has (presumably) two parents who love him and wanted him enough to go to extraordinary measures to have him. Isn't that good enough?

And if he didn't know that he was a sperm bank baby, and it does scar him, isn't it the fault of his parents that actually take care of him, for not telling him before he found it out on the internet?

Could you please expound on what, exactly, is wrong with this situation in your view? I can't figure it out beyond the possibility that you want to whine about 'them damn college students!'

Informational Awareness

[headkase]

You know, and I'm only speaking for myself here, if my biological offspring were with it enough to do this by themselve(s) then I would actually love to hear from them and see where it went from there. Seriously, the best complement a child can pay to a parent is being exceptionally competent within the age they live in. This kid is definately an Information Age personality. Cool kid.

Re:Informational Awareness

[QuantumG]

Yep, and I'm sure you'd feel really proud considering that you've had nothing to do with their upbringing and just supplied less than half of their genetic material which was mostly random anyway. But hey, don't let that stop you from taking credit from the people who did the real work of actually raising the kid.

Re:Informational Awareness

[renoX]

Someone mod the parent up?
I agree and think that people put too much importance in biological links compared to what really matters: living together, educating the kids.
Would it really matter if you're biological father/mother was someone else instead of your real (ie the one who have raised you) father/mother?

It takes 30sec/9 month to make a children, it takes *20 years* to raise a children!

Re:Informational Awareness

[dasunt]

Yep, and I'm sure you'd feel really proud considering that you've had nothing to do with their upbringing and just supplied less than half of their genetic material which was mostly random anyway.

Less than half? Does 49% of your DNA come from your mother, 49% of your DNA come from your father, and the remaining 2% is from the aliens who abducted your parents?

I'm scratching my head over this one. You better not bring up some bullshit about mitochondrian DNA, since there was nothing in the grandparent's post that excluded the poster from being female.

Re:People deserve all they get

[Jekler]

You make it sound like someone went out and got someone pregnant for beer money. You don't actually fuck someone at a sperm bank. There's plenty of horrible parents in the worldI think people donating to sperm banks are somewhere at the end of the list of parenting problems.

Re:I don't think you've thought it through.

[Mornelithe]

How can someone donating to a sperm bank ever give his offspring a second thought? He never knows if or when or how many kids will be the result of that donation. At most he could perhaps claim to have been thinking about the potential parents and their plight of not being able to have children.

These kids aren't adopted. These people aren't selling babies for beer money. They're selling people the opportunity to have 'their own' children, merely with someone else's genetic material. These kids weren't abandoned by some 'original' parents. Their parents are the people who went to the sperm bank, and got pregnant, and so on, specifically because they wanted a child. These children are living with their real parents. The fact that the semen came from some other guy's penis, whatever the motivation, seems like an infinitesimal part of the equation, unless you're worried about genetic diseases or something.

Re:I don't think you've thought it through.

[Retric]

I think there is a lot of value in knowing who your genetic ancestors are. For example my father has an uncommon genetic condition whereby he has poor speculation to his extremity's. But having lived like this most of his life he put little thought into keeping his extremity's worm and got a case of frost bite by working on his car for a few hours in the cold when not useing good foot protection. It then took him several years of somewhat ext ream pain and the removial of some toes to heal. Now knowing about this I have reason to be more cautious when it does not seem all that could out.

However, before this happened to him I used to walk around all winter in sandals because my feet never felt cold. I understand that while I don't feel cold my feet are vary cold when I do this so I can do a lot of damage by walking around like this even if it seems like everything is fine. Thus, by knowing about possible genetic issues you are better able to deal with them.

It's the same thing with hart conditions / diabetes ect. On a more personal level knowing you family's history for breast caner is a powerful tool which would help you manage risk. But, I agree with you that knowing you genetic ancestors as specific people is probably not all that important.