The European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology (ESHRE) hosts its 42nd Annual Meeting in London 5 – 8 July 2026, with Prof Jackson Kirkman-Brown presenting on the final day a new position paper calling for international limits on the number of families created per gamete donor.
Prof Jackson Kirkman-Brown said ” The Final day of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) meeting has felt particularly important – launching the position paper on donor family limits is a major milestone for ESHRE, a ‘first’ in terms of a learned Society setting an achievable international number and a large step for all parties involved in donor conception. I hope everyone takes the chance to read and engage with the policy – and for professional colleagues now is the time to make sure your bank or clinic fulfils this in practice.”
Following Prof Kirkman-Brown’s presentation, a wider discussion with panellists spoke further on the topic, making it clear that setting a limit of 50 was not without even internal controversy, but with no current limits, and not wanting to impact on the capacity for family building options, this was the best option in the short term.
The timelines for the reduction to 15, was currently unclear, and many factors will impact, continues access to donors, how many new donors come through, and if this becomes EU legislation rather than just ESHRE recommendations.
Panellists included:
- Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, member of the ESHRE working group on donor offspring limits and registry expert
- Maciej Śmiechowski, chair of Fertility Europe
- Ties van der Meer, chair of Stichting Donorkind and representative of Donor Offspring Europe
- Ole Schou, CEO and founder of Cryos
- Nick van Gelder, division head at the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products
🔗 Read the full paper here https://academic.oup.com/humrep/advance-article/doi/10.1093/humrep/deag108/8726004