Study calls for universal "presumed consent"

"Approximately 6,800 kidney transplants – or 10% of the total number of kidney transplants worldwide — are conducted for transplant tourists, who are willing to pay prices in excess of 100,000 euros per operation," reports La Vanguardia. The Catalan daily cites a pioneering study jointly undertaken by the Council of Europe and the United Nations, which should constitute a first step towards an international agreement to halt this phenomenon. According to the study, transplant tourism is largely the result of a lack of donors: in the EU alone, 4,000 patients die every year while waiting for organ transplants. "Those who have the means seek other solutions'" in Pakistan, India, China, the Philippines, Egypt and Colombia, notes the Global Observatory on Donation & Transplantation. Rafael Matesanz, the head of the Spanish national transplant organization and one of the authors of the report, suggests that the system of presumed consent, which has been established in Spain — where the rate of donations is the highest in the world — should be applied worldwide. This would "raise the number of donations worldwide from the current level of 100,000 organs per year to one million." The European Parliament has already voiced its support for the initiative.