[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 9, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7501-S7502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ORGAN DONATION STAMP

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise this evening to talk about an issue 
that I have talked about on several occasions previously on the floor, 
and that has to do with a problem we have in this country, a serious 
problem, and that is a shortage of organ donors.
  We need to raise the awareness of the American people about this very 
important issue. That is why today I am calling upon the Citizens 
Postal Advisory Committee to approve a postage stamp in honor of organ 
donation.
  Every day in this country eight people die--eight people every single 
day die--who are on a waiting list, a waiting list to have an organ 
transplant operation. In 1994, over 3,000 Americans

[[Page S7502]]

died while waiting for an organ, 142 of them in my home State of Ohio.
  As of May 1 of this year, which are the most current available 
figures that I have, there were 46,128 Americans on the waiting list 
for organs. That was an increase over the April numbers, just 1 month 
before.
  On April 3, there were 45,583 people on the waiting list. So just in 
1 month, over 500 people were added to that waiting list.
  As of May 1, 32,256 people were waiting for kidneys. That is an 
increase of 344 people in less than a month.
  On that same date, 6,273 people were waiting for a liver, and that is 
137 more than in April.
  On that same date, May 1, there were 1,339 people waiting for a 
kidney-pancreas transplant, 30 more than in April.
  And on that same date, there were 3,599 people waiting for a new 
heart, 50 more than a month before on April 3.
  Mr. President, if we ask our expert on this, our colleague from 
Tennessee, Dr. Frist, he will tell us these people can be helped. He 
will tell us these people did not have to die. He will tell us that the 
technology is there to save them and that what we are lacking is enough 
organ donations, what we are lacking is enough family members who lose 
a loved one who are willing, in a time of great tragedy and great hurt, 
to say, ``Yes; yes, I will agree to have my loved one's organs 
transplanted into someone else so they can live.''
  The technology is there to save these lives. It is the organs that 
are missing. That is why all American families need to talk about this 
issue. It is something we as Americans do not want to talk about. We do 
not want to talk about death. We do not want to talk about funerals. We 
do not want to think a tragedy may strike. But it is important that we 
talk about this before something happens.
  I am convinced, and, in fact, the statistics, polls and studies show 
it, the vast majority of Americans, if they thought they could help 
someone, would want their organs donated to save someone's life. The 
problem is that as a people, we do not talk about it; as families, we 
do not talk about it. So the next of kin, the families, the fathers, 
the mothers, the brothers, the sisters who have to make this decision 
do not really know what to do because that issue has never been 
discussed. That is why the national campaign is to get families to talk 
about it, because we believe if families do talk about this, they will 
ultimately make the right decision and lives will be saved.
  We need to do everything we can to make sure that this issue does get 
the attention of all Americans. We need literally to start a 
conversation about this at the kitchen table of every single family in 
this country. We need to find creative ways to do this, creative ways 
to get people's attention.
  There is one particular measure that I would like to talk about today 
that I think will get people's attention. Tomorrow, the citizens stamp 
advisory committee will meet to review and make recommendations for new 
postage stamps. Nearly 300,000 Americans have already signed a petition 
urging this stamp advisory committee to approve a postage stamp 
honoring organ and tissue donation. I believe that if we put our 
message on the envelopes of millions of Americans, we will strike an 
important blow for public awareness of the need for organs.
  Here is one example of what the stamp could look like. I am not an 
artist. I did not draw this. Anybody who knows me knows I did not do 
this. But there are some creative people in our office who had some 
ideas, and they put this together. We bring it to the floor only to 
show what a stamp like this could look like, and the message is pretty 
basic: ``Organ Donation. Share Your Life . . . Share Your Decision.'' 
That is the national campaign for people to talk about it before 
tragedy does strike.
  The green ribbon in this stamp symbolizes life. The stamp would send 
the message that organ donation is a gift of life. This is literally 
true. The donor shortage in this country is one of the most important 
problems in health care today and a problem that is not easily solved. 
I believe the stamp advisory committee should approve this organ 
donation stamp in the same spirit in which it approved this year's 
breast cancer awareness stamp.
  By approving this stamp, the advisory committee will literally be 
saving lives. It will prompt exactly the kind of family discussions we 
have been trying to promote. This postage stamp would save lives and 
would save lives without major cost or major effort.
  The advisory committee should heed the appeals of over 300,000 
concerned Americans, including some Members of Congress, to go ahead 
and approve this stamp. By doing so, the postal advisory committee 
would send a strong message to all Americans about the lifesaving 
decision every single family can make.
  I thank the Chair, yield the floor and suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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