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initial meetings with Dr. C. Everett Koop, Surgeon. General of the United States. These meetings were arranged in response to a recommendation by Pres-.
AMERICAN COUNCIL ON TRAN SPLANTATION Clive 0. Callender, MD Washington, DC The American Council on Transplantation (ACT) is a five-year-old organization that is the umbrella group for all groups fostering organ transplantation. The National Medical Association (NMA), with the author as its designee, is a charter member. As a participant, I presented "Attitudes of Blacks Toward Donating Kidneys for Transplantation" at the two initial meetings with Dr. C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General of the United States. These meetings were arranged in response to a recommendation by President Ronald Reagan, and led to the clear realization of the need for an organization that would be responsive to the needs of transplant donor and recipient families and health care providers as well. The result was the birth of ACT. My involvement in the American Council on Transplantation (I am a member of the Board of Directors) has enabled me to represent the concerns of black physicians and patients. As one example, the Dow Chemical Company supported my presentations in 11 cities on the need for minority organ donors. These efforts reached more than 50 million people in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Houston, and Miami-cities selected on the basis of their high black populations. Currently, the American Council on Transplantation is doing research into ways of increasing organ donations in the black and Hispanic populations. The National Medical Association's participation should

Dr. Callender is a transplant surgeon and Professor of Surgery at Howard University, Washington, DC, and the NMA representative to the American Council on Transplantation. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Clive 0. Callender, Division

of Transplant Surgery, Howard University Hospital, 2041 Georgia Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20060.

continue, for NMA involvement has been a major factor in the effort to increase minority organ donors. In the near future, I shall propose a resolution to the NMA House of Delegates suggesting that NMA physicians and chapters become involved in organ donor projects. Other resolutions in this area have been proposed and adopted, particularly the NMA's endorsement of required request legislation. In 1984, the National Organ Task Force, appointed by the Secretary of Health (the author was the only black member), adopted the following position with regard to the sale of cadaveric kidneys abroad: Human organs are a scarce resource that should be allocated fairly and on the basis of medical criteria. Although there may be certain legitimate reasons for sending kidneys abroad, we are alarmed at the large numbers of cadaveric kidneys that have been exported from this country when there are so many patients in America who are currently on waiting lists. The Task Force is concerned that export of cadaveric kidneys is being influenced by the potential for monetary gain or other non-medical reasons. In the interest of assuring equitable allocation of organs among transplant centers and patients, as well as improving access to organ transplantation generally, the Task Force recommends that exportation and importation of donor organs be prohibited except when distribution is arranged or coordinated by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the organs are to be sent to recognized national networks. Even then, when an organ is to be exported from the United States, documentation must be available to demonstrate that all appropriate efforts have been made to locate a recipient in the United States and/or Canada. The Task Force has every expectation that these international organ sharing programs will be reciprocal.

The Task Force recommended that the practice of soliciting or advertising for nonimmigrant aliens and performing a transplant for such patients, without regard to the waiting list, should cease.

JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, VOL. 80, NO. 10, 1988

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