From the Times Online: "A MACABRE traffic associated with poor countries in Asia and Latin America has sprung up for the first time in western Europe as the credit crunch reduces Spaniards to selling organs to “transplant tourists”.
Spanish “kidney for sale” advertisements have proliferated recently on the internet as people struggle to make ends meet in a country whose 17% unemployment rate is the highest in Europe.
Spanish medical experts said that prices in Spain were much higher than in countries outside Europe. For instance, a kidney can be acquired in Pakistan or Brazil for £1,000. Transplant tourism has been thriving in many Asian and South American countries for years.
Some buyers might prefer a kidney from Europe in the belief that it is healthier than one from the Third World. However, a doctor in a hospital outside Europe would have to perform the operation, said Rafael Matesanz, director of Spain’s national transplant office.
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Who knew? While one has heard of any number of desperate unsavory practices emanating from third world countries, it is none the less surprising to hear of people willing to sell their organs for money coming from an industrialized European nation.
Is this the kind of thing we have to look forward to here in the U.S.? Certainly, the fact that some Spaniards are desperate enough to sell their internal organs does not bode well for the rest of the world. Those of us in the (now former, for some of us) appraisal profession saw the handwriting on the wall up to two years before most folks did.......at least as it relates to real estate. (When an estimated 80% of the loans written during the boom had some RESPA or TILA violations, you can figure trouble was looming on the horizon).
As we sow, so shall we reap. The selfishness and greed of man is coming home to roost. It sure would be nice if we could wrangle ourselves out fo this economic mess, but I doubt we will.
Spanish “kidney for sale” advertisements have proliferated recently on the internet as people struggle to make ends meet in a country whose 17% unemployment rate is the highest in Europe.
Spanish medical experts said that prices in Spain were much higher than in countries outside Europe. For instance, a kidney can be acquired in Pakistan or Brazil for £1,000. Transplant tourism has been thriving in many Asian and South American countries for years.
Some buyers might prefer a kidney from Europe in the belief that it is healthier than one from the Third World. However, a doctor in a hospital outside Europe would have to perform the operation, said Rafael Matesanz, director of Spain’s national transplant office.
-------------------------------------
Who knew? While one has heard of any number of desperate unsavory practices emanating from third world countries, it is none the less surprising to hear of people willing to sell their organs for money coming from an industrialized European nation.
Is this the kind of thing we have to look forward to here in the U.S.? Certainly, the fact that some Spaniards are desperate enough to sell their internal organs does not bode well for the rest of the world. Those of us in the (now former, for some of us) appraisal profession saw the handwriting on the wall up to two years before most folks did.......at least as it relates to real estate. (When an estimated 80% of the loans written during the boom had some RESPA or TILA violations, you can figure trouble was looming on the horizon).
As we sow, so shall we reap. The selfishness and greed of man is coming home to roost. It sure would be nice if we could wrangle ourselves out fo this economic mess, but I doubt we will.
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