Lower house OKs bill to pave way for more organ transplants in Japan

TOKYO, June 18 Kyodo -
Japan's House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill to generally
recognize people who are brain dead as legally dead and to scrap the age limit
for organ transplants, clearing the way for more transplants within the
country.
The bill aims to revise the current Organ Transplant Law, which recognizes
brain death only in cases involving people who have already declared their
intention to donate organs and if their family members agree to it. The law
only allows people 15 or older to donate organs.
Because of the requirements under the current law, organs for transplants have
been scarce and there have been only 81 transplant cases in Japan since its
enactment in 1997, resulting in a trend in which people travel abroad for
transplants.
Now that an amendment to the law has come in sight, patients on waiting lists
for organ transplants now see a ray of hope.
The bill endorsed in a plenary session of the lower house would allow people
regardless of age to donate organs as long as family members agree. It does not
require clear intent regarding whether they wish to donate their organs.
But donations could be refused if the person had clearly stated their organs
should not be used for transplantation.
''Today, the dawn of a new Japan has neared,'' former Foreign Minister Taro
Nakayama, one of the proposers of the bill, said at a press conference. ''For
people who have family members (in need of transplants), there is a new light
shining.''
But Michikata Okubo, head of the Japan Transplant Recipients Organization,
expressed mixed feelings about the lower house approval.
''As thousands of people are dying every year (due to the lack of organs for
transplants), I wish (the government) could have revised the law at an earlier
stage,'' he said at a separate news conference.
The bill was one of four proposed amendments for the existing law and is called
Plan A.
Plan B proposes lowering the age limit to 12 and over, while Plan D proposes
conditionally lifting the age limit. Plan C advocates tightening the terms for
diagnosing brain death.
On determining brain death, the three plans basically adhere to the current
law's criterion requiring a prospective donor's stated intention to donate and
are unlikely to boost transplants for adult patients.
''Plan A is the only proposal that could save the lives of more adult
patients,'' Okubo said.
According to Okuba, about 90 percent of people who need organ transplants are
aged 15 or older.
The Japan Society for Transplantation predicts that if the law is amended as
proposed by Plan A, the annual number of transplants from brain dead people
will rise to about 70 from 10 at present.
But deliberations in the House of Councillors are unlikely to go smoothly,
given that the idea in Plan A of equating brain death with death had raised
eyebrows among many lower house lawmakers as well as Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Aso, who responded to reporters' questions as an individual, said after the
vote that he was planning to cast a vote for Plan D as he thinks ''public
opinion on brain death has yet to form a consensus.''
With the approval of Plan A, voting on the remaining three proposals was called
off and the bills were scrapped. Plan A was sent to the upper house Thursday.
The Japanese Communist Party attended the vote but abstained, claiming there
had been insufficient deliberations.
The other parties, including the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, allowed each
member a free vote on each proposed amendment, as the issue concerns personal
views on life and death as well as ethical values.
Of the 430 votes cast in the lower house, 263 were for Plan A, while 167 were
against.
The move to revise the law has gained momentum since around April, when
speculation was rife that the World Health Organization would call on member
states to tighten measures against traveling abroad for organ transplants at
its general meeting last month.
But the WHO decided to put off setting guidelines that would put a brake on
overseas organ transplants. Japanese lawmakers, however, have called for
continued efforts to help increase the number of transplants in Japan.
The move toward legal amendment has also been promoted by the view that
increasing overseas trips for transplants by Japanese could deprive people in
those countries of their own chances of receiving transplants.
==Kyodo