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May 27, 2001 Ad reflects desperate organ shortage By Jennifer O'Brien -- Free Press Reporter News three Toronto men had offered to sell their kidneys was not news to Bill Wall, director of London's organ transplant program. "When you realize the shortage of organs and how desperate people are to receive a life-saving transplant, it's not surprising," Wall said. "In this country, if you could offer $50,000 to anyone who would donate a kidney, you'd have a lot of people do it." Three Latin American men living in Toronto advertised their kidneys for sale in a Spanish-language newspaper this month. Some call it a sign a black market in human body parts could be emerging in Canada. More than a dozen people answered the ad, reports said. One 22-year-old refugee asked $50,000 US for his kidney, saying he was desperate for the money. The refugee's 37-year-old Canadian relative wanted $75,000 US. The question, Wall said, is whether it's appropriate to sell organs. "And society so far has said, 'No, it is not' . . . It all comes down to human dignity. "Organ donation has always been based on selflessness and human compassion, and that's how it should remain." About 4,000 people await donated organs in Canada, Wall said, and 80 per cent of them need kidneys. In London, 176 of the 278 people awaiting a donor organ need kidneys. London has long been at the leading edge of research in controversial technologies such as animal-to-human organ transplants and stem cell technology. The city's research facilities are Canada's leader in the worldwide pursuit of cross-species or xenotransplants. It's also a leader in stem cell research that could lead to regeneration of stem cells -- immature cells that can be coaxed into maturing into specific tissues -- into solid organs, glands, nerves and brain tissue. Both transplantation concepts are controversial among ethicists. But Barry Hoffmaster, a philosophy professor at the University of Western Ontario, said such technologies are seen as a more moral way to increase transplants than actually creating an organ market. "In desperate kinds of situations, you'd probably do anything you could, but . . . when we start seeing human beings as marketable commodities, it takes us back to slavery," said Hoffmaster. "I think . . . alternatives are being pursued because selling organs is regarded as so unacceptable," he said. "These options are more ethically acceptable than selling human parts." It also is an illegal market almost worldwide, reflecting "what societies will accept," Hoffmaster said. He noted recent cases, such as the B.C. man who went to India for a transplant. And the New York Times reported yesterday that a man recently bought a kidney in Israel. http://www.canoe.ca/LondonNews/01n2.html ************ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn