Facts & Figures
• Compared with other countries Australia's donation rate of 10.2 per million population (the number of people who die and become donors out of the live population) is low. When organ donation rates are compared per 1,000 deaths, the difference between the donation rate for Australia and some other countries is reduced. In 2000, Australia's donation rate of 1.5 per 1,000 deaths was comparable with estimated rates for New Zealand and for several European countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. (p.3)

• People in endstage organ failure require transplantation to survive. The majority of potential recipients do not have lifestyle related illnesses, for example, the most common need for a heart transplant is related to dilated cardiomyopathy, which is an inherited genetic condition. (p.9)

• Organ and tissue donation is a community service, which saves lives, improves quality of life and has cost benefits for society. Every organ donor can assist up to 10 recipients to enjoy renewed or improved life. (p.10)

• In Australia, each person has a 10 times greater chance of requiring an organ transplant than of becoming an organ donor. Less than 1% of all deaths occur in such a way that organ donation is medically possible. (p.10)

• People of all ages can be organ or tissue donors. There is effectively no age limit for corneal (eye tissue), bone tissue, kidney or liver donations. (p.10)

• A person's decision to help other people via transplantation does not permit the removal of organs for any other purpose. To donate organs/tissues for science or research, separate and specific consent must be given. (p.10)

• In 2000, around 850 Australians received life-saving organ transplants (this includes some 178 living related kidney transplants). Many more people received quality of life restoring tissue transplants. (p.10)

• Waiting times are completely dependent on the availability of suitable donated organs and tissues. Times range from about 3 months (on average) for corneal grafts, up to 3 years and longer for a kidney transplant. (p.10)

• Patients awaiting organ transplants are seriously ill and on average, two people will die every week while waiting. (p.10)

• In 2000, 196 Australians became organ donors. This is a rate of 10.2 donors per million of population. In 2000, 849 Australians became tissue donors. (p.10)

• To register as an organ or tissue donor, the most important thing is to tell your family. This is because, in the event of your death, your family would be asked to give written consent for donation to proceed. Consent is never presumed. Registering your intention to donate on the Australian Organ Donor Register and telling your family of your wishes, are the most important things you can do to ensure your wishes are carried out. (p.10)

• The majority of the world's religions support organ/tissue donation and transplantation as acts of generosity and merit. These religions include Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Judaism and Sikhism. Last year the Catholic Pope strongly endorsed organ donation as a compassionate choice. (p.10)

• Only around 1% of all deaths occur in such a way that organ donation is possible, however tissue donation is possible in a wider range of circumstances. Organ donation can take place only under certain circumstances. The person usually dies of a serious accident or severe brain haemorrhage; they are in hospital, usually in Intensive Care, and always attached to an oxygen machine (a ventilator) when they die. (p.11)

• In order to donate organs and tissues, a person must first be declared dead, according to strict criteria. In Australia, death is defined, both medically and legally, as: irreversible cessation of all function of the brain ('brain death'); or irreversible cessation of circulation of the blood ('death'). (p.11)

• Over 30,000 Australians have received organ and tissue transplants since the 1960s. Transplanted organs include kidneys, heart, lungs, liver and pancreas. Tissues include corneas, skin, bone, heart valves and bone marrow. (p.12)

• Australia's transplant success rates are amongst the best in the world. One-year survival rates for most organs are above 80%. Pancreas transplants have the highest survival rate of 94% at one year and 87% at five years. Heart-lung operations have the lowest survival rate of 76% at one year and 60% at five years. (p.12)

• Over the past eight years, the number of organ donors in Australia has averaged around 194 per year (range 164-224). (p.12)

• At any one time there may be up to 2,500 Australians on organ transplant waiting lists. These patients are gravely ill. On current figures, up to 15% of those awaiting a heart, heart-lung or liver may die before a transplant becomes available. (p.12)

• Public awareness research indicates 90% of the Australian population support organ/tissue donation in principle. Around half have indicated a willingness to donate on either their driver's licence, a donor registry or by carrying a donor card. (p.12)

• Manipulating stem cells from a patient may in the future allow doctors to grow human cells, bone marrow, tissue or perhaps whole organs for use in transplants, removing the risk of rejection. (p.27)

• The ethical and social policy issues relating to xenotransplantation can be categorized into two sections; issues that relate to research involving human beings and; issues that relate to animal welfare. (p.32)

• In order for xenotransplantation to become an option for human therapy, research is needed that includes: animal-to-animal studies (pre-clinical studies) — in which proposed xenotransplantation procedures are tested on animals (e.g. pig-to-baboon kidney transplant); and animal-to-human trials (clinical trials) — in which animal products are used for xenotransplantation procedures on human beings (e.g. pig-to-human brain cell transplants). (p.34)

• Pigs are considered the most suitable species as a source of material for xenotransplantation. (p.34)

• The main risk to the recipient of an animal organ is rejection due to the patient's immune response. In human-to-human transplantation (allotransplantation), rejection has been largely overcome by tissue matching of donors and recipients, and by giving the recipient drugs that suppress their immune response. (p.34)

• The risk of rejection in xenotransplantation is more severe because the differences between the donor and the recipient are much greater. The most promising approach at this stage is to genetically modify the source animals so that they do not cause such a strong immune response. Scientists have already produced several genetically modified strains of pig that show promising results. (p.34)

• Xenotransplantation carries some risks for the wider community. The major concern for public health is that xenotransplantation might transmit an infectious agent (such as a virus) from animals to humans. Retroviruses are the chief concern, because there are many examples of such viruses moving from one species to become infectious in another. (p.34)