By&nbspEuronews

Published on
04/12/2025 – 11:55 GMT+1

A post on X claiming that Denmark has introduced an IQ threshold of at least 85 for sperm donors has sparked confusion, debate and memes, but ultimately is misleading.

In reality, Denmark has no legal IQ requirement for sperm donors, although donors must go through a risk assessment interview and medical history review to check for any genetic risk factors.

The country, which is well known for its liberal sperm donation laws, has at least a dozen sperm-bank operations active, despite no definitive public registry.

The two largest that are internationally recognised are the European Sperm Bank and Cryos International, the latter described as the “world’s largest sperm and egg bank”.

Cryos International says its donors must be between 18 and 45 years old, be physically and mentally healthy, undertake legal and medical screening and live in Denmark whilst donating. A single donor can donate to up to 12 families under wider Danish regulations.

Only in 2011 did Cyros introduce another requirement for donors: red-haired donors were turned away because, the company’s founder said, the bank already had plentiful supplies.

The European Sperm Bank has the same age requirements, and says its donors are required to go through a “thorough screening process” that checks for serious hereditary diseases and sexually transmitted infections.

Whilst it’s untrue that all Danish sperm banks and the country of Denmark have IQ requirements, one does: Donor Network, a sperm bank headquartered in the city of Aarhus.

The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, reached out to Donor Network, whose CEO confirmed that the sperm bank has an IQ threshold of 85 and rejects those with a criminal record from donating.

“As far as we know, we are the only bank in the world with these requirements,” CEO of Donor Network, Jakub Knudsen, told The Cube.

Confusion and memes stem from an article written in November by the Danish broadcaster DR, which highlights Donor Network.

In late November, a post containing a rewritten clip from the article was shared widely online, sparking speculation that Donor Network’s requirements expanded to the whole of Denmark.

Controversy abounds

Whilst social media is awash with memes around Donor Network’s requirements, the topic raises some ethical considerations.

According to DR, medical ethicists say screening donors for certain hereditary conditions reduces the likelihood of certain negative outcomes, such as between 2007 and 2018, when a Danish sperm donor with a pathogenic gene mutation that increased the risk of cancer conceived 52 children.

However, according to Daniela Cutas, associate professor of medical ethics at Lund University, screening potential donors for their IQ and criminal record is trickier, because it assumes a higher IQ and a lack of criminal record can be genetically determined.

Broad consensus says that while traits such as a parent’s IQ can influence a child’s intelligence, environmental factors play a major role in shaping a child’s cognitive development.

However, according to Knudsen, scientific literature shows that “IQ is a strong predictor of, not just academic success and income, but also mortality, risk of ADHD, etc. and has a high heritability of 50-80%.”

“We wouldn’t feel comfortable selling these individuals as donors, as we wouldn’t recommend them to our own patients,” he said.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Three Omaha police offers were wounded and a suspect killed Wednesday in an exchange of gunfire at a gas station.

The suspect, a man in his 20s, had earlier shot a 61-year-old man several times in the chest about noon at a grocery store, Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said. Officers obtained a license plate number from the scene and followed the suspect’s car to the gas station, he said.

The officers watched the suspect get out and enter a restroom. He then left the room and began firing on the officers, the chief said.

Two officers were hit, and a third was hit by shrapnel. The officers returned fire, and the suspect was killed.

“This is a very dangerous day involving this suspect in the city of Omaha,” Schmaderer said.

The officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to a local hospital, Omaha police said. The officer hit by shrapnel was later released.

The condition of the other shooting victim is unclear.

Russia once again extended the prison sentence of U.S. citizen Robert Gilman Wednesday after a regional court found him guilty of a new assault on prison staff. 

The ruling adds two more years to the former Marine’s existing term, now bringing his total sentence to 10 years, Reuters reported.

The latest extension came in the Voronezh region, where Gilman continues to serve time. 

Prosecutors accused him of attacking two prison guards, and the court ruled that the incident constituted a new offense which warranted additional punishment.

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The move follows a pattern of steadily increasing charges for Gilman since his initial arrest in 2022, highlighting how his prison time has lengthened over consecutive years.

Gilman, from Dracut, Massachusetts, was first arrested in January 2022 after passengers on a train reported he was drunk and causing a disturbance.

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Transport police took him off the train in Voronezh, where he was detained for petty hooliganism. 

At the time, Russian media reported that Gilman, who had been traveling between Sochi and Moscow to replace a damaged passport, was heavily intoxicated.

He later claimed in court that he believed his drink had been spiked.

Gilman was convicted in 2022 of assaulting a police officer, initially receiving a sentence of three and a half years. 

At the time, prosecutors recommended four and a half years, of a possible five.

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Fox News Digital also reported that Gilman bruised a Russian police officer with a kick while being dragged off of the train.

Gilman’s troubles in custody then increased in 2024 when he was found guilty of attacking a prison inspector during a cell check, assaulting an investigator and beating another guard.

Those convictions brought a sentence of eight years and one month, with Wednesday’s decision pushing the total to a decade.

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Local media, including the business newspaper Kommersant, reported that Gilman admitted to some of the assaults, per Reuters.

He said he began breaking prison rules after he was threatened with transfer from his current detention facility, which he described as humane and where he could receive packages from relatives, to a maximum-security penal colony. 

On Wednesday, Gilman apologized in court and explained he preferred to remain in the Voronezh facility.

According to Reuters, Gilman’s lawyer, Irina Brazhnikova, told the state-run TASS news agency that he would not appeal the newest verdict.

Gilman is among at least nine Americans still imprisoned in Russia following multiple high-profile prisoner exchanges in 2024 and 2025. 

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Several, like Gilman, have U.S. military backgrounds, including Michael Travis Leake and Gordon Black.

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Supporters of Gilman in the United States argue he was ill when first detained and was provoked into actions that produced additional charges.