German MPs seek to raise number of organ donors

"German Health Minister Daniel Bahr is pictured in 2011. German lawmakers adopted a bill Friday aimed at increasing the number of organ donors by allowing health insurance companies to regularly inquire if their patients are willing to become potential donors. (AFP Photo/John Macdougall)" title

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Like: Facebook feature spurs organ donor signups

Thousands of Facebook users have signed up to be organ donors this week, thanks to a new feature on the social networking site that makes it easier to register.

The new option was announced Tuesday by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as a way to boost the number of potential organ donors. By the end of the day, 6,000 people had enrolled through 22 state registries, according to Donate Life America, which promotes donations and is working with Facebook. On a normal day, those states together see less than 400 sign up.

The response "dwarfs any past organ donation initiative," said David Fleming, chief executive of Donate Life America, in a statement.

The Facebook feature allows users to share their decision to be an organ donor on the website. More than 100,000 did that by Tuesday night, according to Facebook, which is working with Fleming's group to encourage Facebook users to also officially register as donors with their state.

A link on the site connects to online donor registries. At least 22,000 people had followed that link as of Wednesday afternoon. Information from 22 states indicates that a third or more of them filled out the form to register, said Donate Life America spokeswoman Aisha Michel.

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US recalls organ storage fluid over contamination fears

"Two organ donor application leaflets are shown in London. The British government on Thursday confirmed that there had been a global recall of the fluid used to store most of its donor organs over fears it may have become contaminated" title

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