In the age of DNA, not many things can stay buried forever. BioHacked S1: Family Secrets, explores how at-home genetic testing is upending the baby business, and putting the children of anonymous sperm and egg donors into direct conflict with the industry that created them. Coming March 9th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Families are complex, and so are the ways they come together. TJ Raphael, host of BioHacked, speaks with the host of our upcoming season — All Relative: Defining Diego, coming to this feed on October 3rd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Defining Diego is the story of one Guatemalan adoptee and his mother, a reporter who documented their journey from his earliest steps, as they try to understand how international adoption boomed and busted — and what it all means for families like theirs, with feet in two worlds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Kurt donated his sperm hundreds of times. He thought his identity could stay hidden forever, but Amber and Kaitlin are on his trail. Will he connect with them, or forever remain a mystery? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A Christmas present turns Amber’s life upside down. Shaken, she questions the very foundation of her identity — and struggles to learn the truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Frozen semen, a media circus, and the father of sperm banking. The man and the moment that gave life to millions — and catapulted the fertility industry into a global business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
An improbable tale to transform the human race, one genius at a time. Find out how a plan so seemingly out there wound up revolutionizing the baby business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A look at a family built by Robert Graham’s infamous Repository for Germinal Choice reveals the dark side of this genius sperm bank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The David and Goliath battle between an industry powerhouse and a family with a sick child. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A grandmother, a granddaughter, and one anonymous donor's fight to maintain his privacy. What happens when a genetic test creates a family rift? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Thousands of women donate eggs for cash or freeze them for personal use. Could this life-altering treatment be a lot more dangerous than we think? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Donor conceived activists want lasting change, but they'll have to go big with their plans to overhaul the baby business. They've organized and strategized — and now, they're ready to take on the multi-billion dollar industry that created them. Even if it is an uphill battle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fertility industry experts have a warning for donor conceived activists: new rules in the baby business could have some big, unintended consequences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
From Facebook groups to Tinder-like apps, a new generation of parents are using unregulated tech to form families outside the baby business. Get to know the women and couples seeking out sperm online – and the donors stepping up to the plate to help them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The baby business has used shame and secrecy as tools for decades. But a new generation of parents are removing stigma by leaning into a model that centers love, science, and determination. How can the lessons of the past shape the way forward for the fertility industry? Have feedback about the show? Email us at biohacked@threeuncannyfour.com. Follow our host on Twitter @TJRaphael. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s 1999, and reporter Laurie Stern wants to adopt a child with her husband. At the time, international adoption seems pretty straightforward — Laurie wants a baby, and there are babies who need parents. But once she arrives in Guatemala City to meet a five-month old boy named Diego, she realizes that nothing about adopting a baby from Guatemala is that simple. 23 years later, Diego’s an adult, and he has questions of his own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Laurie takes three-year-old Diego back to Guatemala for the first time since his adoption. While Diego bonds with his birth mother Isabel, Laurie starts talking with birth mothers all over the country. Many are young, live in poverty, or are survivors of the Guatemalan civil war. Despite how much adoption costs for families in the U.S., Laurie begins to realize how little birth mothers receive in exchange. Meanwhile, Diego is growing up as an indigenous Mayan kid in St. Paul, Minnesota — loving hockey, hating Spanish lessons, and navigating what it means to have family in two places. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Adoption has become a booming industry — the price is soaring, and Guatemala has become a top exporter of babies for adoption, second only to China. But when making families becomes secondary to making money, the cost to Guatemalan birth mothers is incalculable — and babies are treated more like products than people. Meanwhile, on a trip back to his birth village, six-year-old Diego receives tragic news — and Laurie and her husband Dan face a tough decision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The international adoption racket is surging — and it’s gotten way out of control. All over the world, ugly stories begin to surface: of stolen children, shady adoption lawyers, and birth mothers pressured to give up their children. So in 2008, under increasing pressure from human rights activists, the Guatemalan government shuts the whole thing down. And on a trip to Guatemala, Diego’s curiosity is sparked by seeing a photograph of his birth father for the first time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When Diego turns 12, he’s diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and his entire world turns inside out. The family goes into survival mode. Sick and angry Diego acts out — and Laurie and Dan struggle with how to parent him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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PathD
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Incredibly respectful and researched from all sides! The origins to today! This is a powerful story for many now. I could not agree more that this should be looked at as if donating a kidney or another body organ. I was hooked from the first episode! This podcast is a long time coming! CONGRATULATIONS! I look forward to next project!!
SON,s SUN
icant rremember english sounds you can push too maind .. i can losten farsi . it is just
Andrea
If you agree to have your dna used to create another person, you're absolutely NOT entitled to anonymity. The created person has a right to know both halves of his creation. The rights of the offspring are clearly never considered. You are an adult. You made the decision to agree to be a source for a created person. Have fun dealing with the consequences of your own actions.
Wendy Teran-Bercovitz
Just listening to this podcast and annoyed. If you donate anonymously you shouldn't be worried about being contacted.