In the U.S., the teen birth rate has reached an all time low at 39.1 births per 1,000 teens ages 15-19, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
But for sperm donors, reproduction is going well — maybe too well.
According to a Monday New York Times article, many children conceived via artificial insemination have dozens of half-siblings, even hundreds. One donor apparently begot more than 150 children, according to The Times.
Naturally, the story made for some controversial media attention, and now some people are calling for tighter regulations for sperm banks that sell the popular DNA without restrictions.
The scientific community is worried that such extensive offspring from a single donor could lead to increases in the risk for rare genetic flaws and diseases spreading through the population, as well as the risk of accidental incest.
But there are other types of selective breeding we frequently overlook, too.
Not to single out a particular group, but Jewish culture comes to mind as a ready example. It is a common complaint among the Jewish community that they aren’t reproducing enough — and young Jews are frequently encouraged to date and marry “within the Tradition,” or “the Tribe.”
In a recent The Nation article, Jewish journalist Kiera Feldman describes her experience of going on “Birthright Israel,” an American-Zionist organization that sends Diaspora, American Jews aged 18-25, back to the Holy Land on a 10-day trip for free.
Feldman said the program often leaves the participants feeling “emotionally-overwhelmed,” “life-changing” and “pro-Israel.”
But the gist of Feldman’s article is that Birthright not only connects the participants emotionally to the Israeli landscape, but also to the Israeli people — romantically.
Birthright was conceived, Feldman explains, after the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, which, “unleashed a panic within the halls of American Jewish institutions: 52 percent of Jews were marrying outside the faith.” So the program was established by wealthy Jewish community leaders to fight high intermarriage rates.
And they pay well for it. According to the article, since 1999, they’ve spent nearly $600 million to send more than 260,000 young American Jews to Israel. And because of it, “Birthright boasts that alumni are 51 percent more likely to marry other Jews than nonparticipants.”
Now, for the sake of a simple comparison, the Irish, for example, have approached the issue of intermarriage from the opposite direction.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 36.9 million U.S. residents, including President Barack Obama, claimed Irish ancestry in 2009, and some estimates put the worldwide estimate at over 70 million.
So in terms of reproduction, Jewish values tend to be exclusive while the Irish tend to be quite the opposite — extremely inclusive.
I certainly don’t claim to fully appreciate the importance of tradition and culture of Judaism, the Jewish people, or Israel. But from the point of view of an Irishman, I can’t help but wonder if exclusivity is really the right way to spread the seed.
In terms of the wizarding world, this is the ideological difference between pure-bloods and mudbloods; Slytherin and Gryffindor.
And in simple biological terms, dating back to Darwin’s The Origin of Species, it is best to diversify. This is not an opinion — it’s a fact. The more diverse genes are, the less chance there is of negative, recessive traits surviving. Conversely, inbreeding leads to genetically inferior offspring.
Just like having huge donor families, selective mating like cultural isolationism is likely genetically and socially unhealthy.
But unlike the regulations needed to solve the donor problem, more exclusive cultures only need to let nature take its course, as the Irish once did.
Reach the columnist at djoconn1@asu.edu.
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