Sperm bank taken to court after mum who picked '6ft donor' gives birth to dwarf

A sperm bank's website has been blocked after a woman gave birth to a child with dwarfism.
The woman - a successful writer whose identity has not been disclosed - chose a father for her child from pictures of donors on the site. She and underwent successful IVF treatment at her private Moscow clinic after paying for his sperm. She was attracted by his fair-haired looks, higher education - and height of more than 6ft, according to reports in Russia. At more than 40-years-old she believed this was her last chance to have a child.
But in the later stages of pregnancy, the unborn boy was detected with suspected achondroplasia, a rare incurable disease suffered by one child in 20,000 that causes dwarfism, a Moscow court heard.
This was confirmed after birth and she was told her son, now two, would grow to a maximum adult height of roughly 4ft, and that his limbs and facial features would not develop “correctly”.
The woman said she wanted to warn other sperm bank customers of the risk.
Koptevsky district court ordered the blocking of the website of Danish sperm bank Cryos in Russia, and ruled that using its services would flout Russian laws.
Health watchdog Roszdravnadzor said it was not satisfied with case details handed over by the sperm bank.
These included a “medical genetic examination” of the donor, analysis of his “mental and physical condition” and a family tree with details of relatives.
“However, it is not possible to confirm the reliability of the information received,” said the watchdog.
The company says it screens donors for 46 of the most common recessive genetic diseases.
The sperm bank told Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) newspaper that all the sperm it supplied was of excellent quality "but we are not responsible for the mistakes of the clinics” which carry out IVF treatment.
“We only know that our biomaterial is of high quality,” the paper was told.