Why does this billionaire have 100 children in 12 nations?

[ad_1] Transfer over, Elon, one other billionaire child daddy is on the town Pavel Durov is a Russian-born billionaire whose pursuits embrace doing half-naked photoshoots with child goats and having heaps and many (human) children. The 40-year-old billionaire founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram revealed final yr– in a submit on his personal app – that whereas he isn’t married and prefers to dwell alone, he has over 100 organic kids in 12 nations by way of sperm donation.

Durov’s reproductive selections made headlines once more this week after the tech tycoon instructed the French political journal Le Level that he's going to go away his fortune, estimated at virtually $14bn, to all of his kids. Durov has six kids he fathered naturally with three completely different companions in addition to the youngsters he has by way of sperm donation.

“They're all my kids and can all have the identical rights. I don’t need them to tear one another aside after my demise,” he instructed Le Level.

What possessed Durov, who was charged final yr in France over allegations that Telegram is getting used for illicit exercise, to populate the world with so many mini-mes? (He has denied failing to cooperate with authorities and Telegram has denied having poor moderation.) Nicely, like Elon Musk and various different tech sorts, Durov is a pronatalist who's anxious about world fertility charges declining. He’s chosen to take a hands-on method to tackling the difficulty, funding free IVF remedies for ladies at AltraVita IVF Clinic in Moscow for anybody who makes use of his sperm. In case you’re , and I’m certain that lots of people will probably be now that Durov has laid out the phrases of his will, he’s nonetheless acquired sperm on ice on the clinic.

Durov first donated his sperm over 15 years in the past, so as to assist a good friend. Then, he mentioned in his Telegram submit final yr, he realised he must donate extra extensively. “The boss of the clinic instructed me that ‘prime quality donor materials’ was in brief provide and that it was my civic obligation to donate extra sperm to anonymously assist extra {couples},” Durov mentioned within the submit. Durov added that he needs to “assist destigmatize the entire notion of sperm donation and incentivize extra wholesome males to do it.”

Having used a sperm donor to conceive my very own little one, I’m all for destigmatizing sperm donation. Significantly as there's a main lack of sperm donors amongst sure demographics: at one level final yr, for instance, there have been solely a dozen Black sperm donors on the 4 fundamental cryobanks within the US.

However, and it is a very large however, there is a gigantic distinction between destigmatizing synthetic insemination and one particular person considering it's their “civic obligation” to conceive 100-plus kids. Permitting a single particular person to procreate so prolifically raises advanced moral points. There’s the potential for unintended incest sooner or later, in addition to the potential psychological influence that stems from somebody discovering they've 100 siblings. There are additionally potential medical issues: earlier this yr it was reported that the sperm of a person with a uncommon cancer-causing mutation was used to conceive at the least 67 kids.

Is Durov even allowed to donate to so many various {couples}? The brief reply is sure. The regulation concerning what number of kids will be conceived from one donor is sophisticated and varies from nation to nation. In locations like France there are strict nationwide limits whereas within the US (and Russia) there isn't any nationwide regulation limiting the variety of donations one particular person could make. Respected cryobanks, nevertheless, do declare to have their very own self-imposed limits. The European Sperm Financial institution applies a worldwide restrict of 75 households for every sperm donor. California Cryobank, one of many largest suppliers within the US, has mentioned it tries to restrict donations to about 25-30 households.

Nevertheless these cryobanks are additionally extraordinarily costly, notably after the pandemic, when shortages meant spermflation kicked in, and there's a utterly unregulated marketplace for sperm by way of Fb teams and personal web sites the place individuals can match with potential donors. This has allowed unscrupulous individuals like Jonathan Jacob Meijer of the Netherlands to father tons of of youngsters.

As synthetic insemination turns into extra widespread, there's a determined want to raised regulate the business and restrict the variety of kids conceived from a single sperm donor. Certainly, Sweden, together with seven different nations together with Belgium, raised the subject with EU ministers this week. “This subject has been left unresolved for too lengthy,” an official from Belgium instructed POLITICO, including that an “worldwide restrict is a primary step in the fitting route.”

Let’s hope that these limits get put in place sooner slightly than later. As a result of I've an inkling that Elon Musk, who appears to be going a little bit off the rails, may take all of the chatter about Durov’s progeny as a private problem.

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