Seed without borders

Overview

To protect children's rights, strict regulations have been introduced in the Netherlands to prevent children from later turning out to be the offspring of a mass donor. But does this legislation help if most sperm comes from Danish companies? Every year, more than a thousand Dutch children are conceived using foreign donor sperm. In online catalogs, prospective parents can choose from hundreds of profiles of men who donate their sperm. This sperm from Denmark is then shipped worldwide. Zembla investigates the consequences of this global sperm trade and speaks with donors, prospective parents, and the Danish CEO of the world's largest sperm bank.