The Dutch channel behind a reality TV show in which an organ donor must choose one of three candidates to receive her kidney has promised to broadcast it Friday despite the ruckus it has caused.
Lawmakers in the Dutch parliament have called for 'The Big Donorshow' to be scrapped on ethical grounds, but the channel insists it will press ahead with the scheduled broadcast to highlight the serious lack of organ donors.
Laurens Dillich, the head of public service broadcaster BNN, told public radio: "The chances of the candidates obtaining a kidney are 33 percent, far better than for those on organ waiting lists.
"You would imagine that (waiting times) have improved, but they are getting longer."
BNN, a channel aimed at young people, is screening the show on the fifth anniversary of the death of its founder, Bart de Graaff. He died after waiting seven years for a kidney donation.
The project has prompted condemnation across the Netherlands and beyond.
In Brussels, a spokesman for the European Commission — which on Wednesday was due to make proposals on how to reduce organ donor waiting lists — said it was in "pretty bad taste".
For its part, the Dutch Kidney Foundation welcomed the attention BNN had brought on the subject, but noted that "their way of doing it is not ours, and it will bring no practical solution".
This is not the first time BNN has courted controversy. Previous broadcasts include "Sex, a user's guide", a series of no-holds-barred education programmes, and "Shoot up and swallow", a series dedicated to sex and drugs.
'The Big Donorshow' was dreamt up by Endemol, the Dutch production company behind Big Brother and other reality television shows.
It focuses on Lisa, a 37-year-old woman dying of a brain tumour. She must decide which of three patients selected by the producers, aged between 18 and 40, should receive her kidney. Viewers can offer their opinions by SMS text message.
On Tuesday, the show was raised in the Dutch parliament, where lawmakers agreed on the need to highlight the shortage of organ donors but were divided on whether reality television was the best way to do it.
Lawmakers from the Christian Democrat and Christian Union parties, two members of the ruling coalition, called on Health Minister Ab Klink and Ronald Plasterk, the minister in charge of media, to take the programme off air.
A lawmaker from the third party in the coalition, Labour, also condemned the programme as unethical but said it should not be banned because of the importance of its subject matter.
The two ministers had already made clear that they did not have the authority to ban the programme.
In the Netherlands, organ transplants are subject to strict laws, which prohibit donors from choosing who will receive their organs after their death.
However, an exemption is made in the case of kidney transplants, which can be carried out while the donor is still alive, allowing the donor to choose the beneficiary if there is some link between the two people.
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