Six years after the implementation of the Organ Transplant Law, moves are afoot to alter one of its core conditions for using organs from brain-dead donors -- the donor's prior consent.
Heading the movement is Taro Kono, a member of the House of Representatives who made headlines by donating part of his liver to his father, former Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, in a transplant operation last year.
Since the law took effect in 1997, there have only been 23 organ transplants from brain-dead donors. Some medical experts who say the legislation is meaningless unless the strict conditions are eased see Kono's actions as a chance for the law to be revised.
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