THE Assembly Government said today it would continue to consider the case for introducing presumed consent in organ donation, despite it being rejected by the UK taskforce.

The Assembly does not have the legal power to introduce an opt-out donor register, but it can apply for the law to be varied to allow Wales to go it alone.

Public meetings have been held around Wales to gauge support for presuming the consent of organ donors.

In July, a majority of members on the Assembly's cross-party health committee rejected presumed consent and said public bodies should do more to publicise the need for organ and bone marrow donation.

Its recommendation against an opt-out system was shunned by Health Minister Edwina Hart who said she wanted to keep the idea under consideration.

Tony Calland, chairman of the British Medical Association's (BMA) medical ethics committee and a former chairman of its Welsh council, said: "We would want a major publicity campaign so people know what the issue was and if then relatives violently objected, then the transplantation should not take place, but obviously they should not necessarily have a veto on it as they do at the moment.

"Personally I think there is a terrific opportunity for Wales to test the water and raise the temperature on the issue and find out really, by informing the public, what they feel about it."

Shadow Health Minister Jonathan Morgan, the Conservative chairman of the Assembly's health committee, said evidence from Spain showed a change in the law by itself did not make any difference.

An Assembly Government spokesman said: "We have received a copy of the UK taskforce's report on presumed consent which will be fed into the evaluation of responses to a series of debates we organised to gauge the views of people in Wales on this issue.

"No decision has been made on the issue of presumed consent in Wales.

"Edwina Hart has made it clear that she is personally in favour of considering it as an option for increasing organ donation.

"However, she recognises that this is a sensitive and emotive issue."