Britons are being asked if people should get cash incentives1 to donate eggs and sperm2, and whether the funeral expenses of organ donors3 should be paid in a bid to address a severe shortage.
日前，英国开展了一项有关器官捐献的调查。该调查旨在了解公众对于卵子和精子捐献者是否应获得现金奖励以及是否应为器官捐献者支付葬礼费用等问题的看法，以解决该国器官捐献严重短缺的状况。
Britons are being asked if people should get cash incentives to donate eggs and sperm, and whether the funeral expenses of organ donors should be paid in a bid to address a severe shortage.
The medical ethics5（医德） think-tank, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has launched a public consultation6（咨询，磋商） to look at whether people think it is right that donors should receive payments or other incentives（激励，奖励） to meet a growing demand. Currently, paying people to donate most organs, beyond offering modest expenses, is illegal in Britain.
About 8,000 people need an organ transplant in Britain each year and hundreds die waiting for a suitable donor4. The organ shortage has forced many to seek treatment overseas. A change in the law in 2005, which removed donors' right to anonymity7（匿名） has led to a sharp fall in the number of donations.
Britain has one of the lowest rates of organ donation, at just 13 per million of population compared with 35 per million in Spain where a "presumed consent（同意， 赞成） " system operates, which effectively make everyone a potential donor unless they choose to opt8 out（退出） .
Professor Marilyn Strathern, chairman of the Council's inquiry9 into the issue, said: "We could try to increase the number of organ donors by providing stronger incentives, such as cash, paying funeral costs or priority for an organ in future, but would this be ethical10?"
The Council said incentives could be non-financial, such as offering letters of thanks, T-shirts, mugs（马克杯） or vouchers（付款凭单） , or allowing future donors to jump the queue for transplants should they later need one.
"We also need to think about the morality of pressing people to donate their bodily material," Strathern said. "Offering payment or other incentives may encourage people to take risks or go against their beliefs in a way they would not have otherwise done."
In 2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would not rule out（排除，取消） bringing in a "presumed consent" plan for organ donation. However the Organ Donation Taskforce said that evidence from across the world indicated that such a plan would not improve donation rates.
In January, a study by fertility experts found that a drastic（激烈的，猛烈的） lack of sperm donors meant women wanting babies were resorting to importing semen from abroad or using do-it-yourself insemination（受精，播种） kits12 bought on the Internet.
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