DONATE LIFE HOLLYWOOD - "INHALE" THE MOVIE

For Immediate Release

Contact:     Tenaya Wallace, Donate Life Hollywood Campaign Director

twallace@onelegacy.org, www.donatelifehollywood.org

October 21, 2010

Only You Can Prevent Organ Transplant Tourism

Motion Picture “Inhale” Shows Importance of Registering as Organ Donors

A rich man’s daughter has cystic fibrosis, and because of the shortage of donated organs in the U.S. he takes her to Mexico and purchases lungs on the black market. That is the latest organ donation storyline offered by Hollywood in the film “Inhale” released October 22.

“Inhale” could serve as a public service announcement about the opportunity we all have to save the lives of over 100,000 men, women and children on the national organ transplant waiting list. However, past research on storylines that perpetuate fears and myths about donation reveals it is more likely that “Inhale” will stop non-donors from signing up and cost real lives.

Here are the facts:

·       The young girl in “Inhale” has a very good chance of getting a lung transplant legitimately in the U.S. In 2009, seven people received lung transplants for every one person who died before receiving a transplant.

·       There are no cases of people being killed for their organs in the U.S.  This myth was debunked by Snopes.com as an urban legend that began in the 1990s with an episode of
Law & Order.

·       On January 28, 2010 Mexico’s Attorney General announced in a joint statement with Mexico’s National Transplant Center that organ trafficking in Mexico is a myth, with not a single documented case of its kind.

·       The Patient Affairs Task Force of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group investigates and reports on incidents of transplant tourism and trafficking around the world. It has not received any documented reports of such trafficking between the U.S. and Mexico.

What can happen?

·       People can and do sometimes travel to other countries to receive a transplanted kidney, or occasionally a liver, that is sold by a living donor.

·       World Health Organization officials find these organs are often bought from impoverished persons who sell their organs out of desperation.

What you can do:

·       Register as an organ and tissue donor at www.donatelife.net. Only when more people say yes to organ donation in this country can we assure that the poor and vulnerable in other nations are not exploited.

·       Learn more about The Declaration of Istanbul’s statement on transplant tourism: http://www.declarationofistanbul.org/