For Immediate Release                                                             

July 24 , 2007

Contact: 

Jeanine Sato

1-800-200-2672

jsato@carolinadonorservices.org

Television Shows Negatively Impact

Organ Donation, Study Shows

Durham, N.C. (July 24, 2007) … A new study from Purdue University shows that fictional television shows tackling the topic of organ donation do more harm than good. Despite a majority of Americans supporting organ and tissue donation, television programs perpetuate stereotypes and urban legends about organ donation. Purdue reviewed storylines involving donation on all major networks and found that organ donation is viewed in mostly negative terms. Disturbingly, the study shows that without personal experience with donation, most people rely on television media for information about donation.

Carolina Donor Services (CDS), the region’s federally-designated organ and tissue donation agency, is trying to set the record straight through multiple donation awareness campaigns. Through the personal stories of local transplant recipients and donor families, CDS speaks to the media, schools, civic groups, workplaces and churches about the facts of organ and tissue donation. To separate the top myths of organ donation from the facts, contact CDS.

About Carolina Donor Services

Carolina Donor Services is the federally-designated, non-profit organ and tissue donation organization serving 6.1 million people in 78 counties of North Carolina and Danville, Virginia.  Carolina Donor Services maximizes the passing of the heroic gift of life from one human being to another through organ and tissue donation.  In North Carolina, over 3,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and nationally, over 105,000 people are on the organ waiting list.  For more information, visit www.carolinadonorservices.org; call 1-800-200-2672 or write 3621 Lyckan Parkway, Durham, NC 27707.

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