MEP Sari Essayah (EPP, Christian Democrats) submitted two amendments today to the proposed directive on organ transplantation which is currently before the European Parliament.  The purpose of the proposed amendments is to ensure that participation by Member States in cross-border organ transplant cooperation is voluntary and does not oblige Member States to draw up joint organ waiting lists with other Member States. The other proposed amendment emphasised that it is the responsibility of Member States to address the shortage of transplant organs and furthermore, that shortfalls in national organ transplantation systems cannot be overcome by transferring patients or transplant organs from one Member State to another.

Yesterday Sari Essayah submitted 13 proposed amendments to a report by the Committee on Agriculture regarding animal welfare in industrial agriculture over that last five years. The purpose of the proposed amendment is to ensure that animal welfare indicators are developed further, that such indicators are not subject to interpretation, that they can be applied on farms in practice and that they are applied with common sense. Some of the proposed amendments removed paragraphs concerning the use of antibiotics as this matter is already covered in other documents.