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Online DNA tests are upending anonymous sperm donations

Fintan McDonnell

Published: November 10, 2022

Graphic for the Context video Online DNA tests are upending anonymous sperm donations

Cheap DNA testing kits have enabled millions to peek into their family history, ancestry and inherited health conditions. But the technology has also raised ethical concerns over how customers’ data is being shared and sold for use in drug research and law enforcement.

It’s also upending the decades-old industry of anonymous sperm donations. We met Anna, who found her biological father - a sperm donor - along with 40 half-siblings after taking a DNA test.

Her story raises the question: how do you protect someone’s anonymity in the age of affordable and easy online DNA tests?

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FEATURED

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Sander Sarheim, a coal miner from Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, poses in this still from a video

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Next video in this series is coming soon.

In Brazil, barbecue joints like Mocellin, in Rio de Janeiro, are some of the most favoured gathering places for families to celebrate holidays and anniversaries

Brazilians are eating less beef than ever. Is it enough to stop deforestation?

A woman uses a sewing machine in front of images of high street clothing retailers in this illustration for the Context video 'This is the real cost of fast fashion’s runaway success'. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Albert Han

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Steven Stearns, Head of Strategy and Development at California Cultured, is pictured preparing lab-grown chocolate prototype using a technology called 'plant cell culture' for the for the Context video 'Can a more ethical chocolate bar be grown in the lab?'

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Still from the Context video 'What should we call lab-grown meat'?

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A still from the Context video 'Can lab-grown milk solve dairy’s climate problem?' showing a jar of cream cheese on a table next to items of food

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Steven Stearns, Head of Strategy and Development at California Cultured, is pictured preparing lab-grown chocolate prototype using a technology called 'plant cell culture' for the for the Context video 'Can a more ethical chocolate bar be grown in the lab?'

Can a more ethical chocolate bar be grown in the lab?

Still from the Context video 'What should we call lab-grown meat'?

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Still from the Context video 'Can lab-grown meat be kosher or halal?'

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A still from the Context video 'Can lab-grown milk solve dairy’s climate problem?' showing a jar of cream cheese on a table next to items of food

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