Opposition members of Diet propose setting up ad hoc council on determining criteria for children's brain death

Japan Press Weekly

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Opposition members of Diet propose setting up ad hoc council on determining criteria for children's brain death

Opposition party members of the House of Councilors on June 23 submitted a bill to establish an ad hoc council to carefully determine the criteria for children's brain death.

The bill was proposed and seconded by 52 lawmakers from the opposition, including the Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party, and the People's New Party as a counterproposal to the bill that was approved by the House of Representatives on June 18, which, if enacted, will revise the existing organ transplant law to define "a brain death as human death."

Considering the fact that the issue is divisive, the bill's proposers seek to set up a panel in the Cabinet Office to study the possible criteria for determining children's brain death and the right to life.

The bill also calls for an extra year for careful considerations of tissue and live-organ transplants.

At a news conference held after introducing the bill, Koike Akira of the JCP, one of the proposers, said, "Revising the existing organ transplant law is an extremely controversial matter dealing with life and death. Without an adequate medical consensus and a nationwide debate, people's understanding of organ transplants may possibly remain biased or distorted."

Koike explained that the JCP in the House of Representatives had abstained from voting on the revision of the organ transplant law due to the lack of discussions and transparency, and said, "The bill this time is aimed at offering more opportunities for people to discuss the matter, as the JCP has been insisting all along. It is essential to build a national consensus through careful considerations in the special panel, a nationwide debate, and careful deliberations in the Diet."

- Akahata, June 24, 2009