Actually, it asks in the form of a detailed example whether or not it is legal to trade organs for items that are not considered US federal currency. The answer to that would serve as a fundamental base for questions such as "what about for 1 ton of gold?" It would then be followed by a question of why, if the former is allowed, that trading organs for US currency is not allowed.

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

But you want gum.

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Where did I say I wanted gum?

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

__________________
Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Screw the poor. If the lazy/stupid bums choose to be social failures, its thier problem, not ours. The only poor in the US are those too lazy and/or stupid to succeed. I would support low cost euthenasia for those unable to pay for a transplant.

Wow, you're all heart aren't ya.

What if I was a fire fighter and burnt out my lungs saving a woman and her three kids, "what if then I couldn't afford the operation" ?

What if.....I don't know so let's say Mr.S; was born with a piss ant size penis and after many years of unsatisfaction couldn't afford a penile implant, "would that be tough titty too"?

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Anyone who thinks freedom comes cheap, please put the blindfold on and stand against the wall.

Many times I believe Americans will have to take back the country and start a new government.

Organ selling shouldn't be legal. I haven't read the replies in this topic just the title but I see a big problem with making it legal. Only rich people could afford to buy an organ. Poor people would never get the chance to lenghten their lifes and get healthy again. That's just wrong.

So because poor people can't get it, you want to ban it for everyone?

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

This is a great thread.

I genuinely believe that medical technology in general will be our species Pandora's Box.

6 million years of evolution ( if you accept that the Toumai homonid is the oldest ancestor we have found yet ). Thats a very long time for our prehistoric brain to develop instinctive and complex reflexes around survival, life and death.

In a mere 50 years we have turned all of that in its head, organ transplants being a significant part of these changes.

Now, I am not saying that this is a bad thig ! I am just saying that we are rushing at breakneck speed, with 6 millions years of inertia behind us, towards these medical miracles. To the doubling and trippling of lifespans.

I will not be surprised at all, when in another 15 years, where organ transplants et al are completely safe and copmpletely successful, that we start to see some creepy and weird and very disturbing psychological, physiological and sociological behaviour start to show itself.

We are tinkering with evolutionary forces here - DNA and a survival success matrix so complex and far reaching we cannot hope to understand it.

We do so at our absolute peril.

I am not saying life saving and life extending medical technology is bad at all, and I am not being a doomsayer, I am just putting a warning out there. I dont believe we are thinking hard enough about consequences.

What? That saving someone's life might mean the person breeds and produces some race of beings that were never meant to be?

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

I cant see how anything in my post even hints at driving your comment ? I made a point of stating twice that such life saving technology is not neccessarily a bad thing.

I am just giving one persons opinion on the ethics of biomedicine - that it might be a bigger deal than any of us think it is - or could even imagine it is.

As for breeding a race of being that were never meant to be - meh ? That is dismissive and sophist and unhelpful.

I admit that I often feel that way as well, though not about organ transplants.
Cloning and genetic engineering on humans are more likely to make me feel wary. Not that I think we should necessarily ban such things, but they do always give me a sense of tacit unease in the back of my mind.

I don't think that everything should be for sale. We don't sell children and I don't think we should sell organs.

J. Mander wrote a book IN THE ABSCENCE OF THE SACRED about our cultural attitude towards the sacred and the profane. He contrasts our view of the world with that of other cultures. Not everything should be able to be measured in dollars.

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The apocalypse is coming... we're gonna need more ammo.

Because your children generally are not your property. Your organs are.

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If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

At this point in history in this country children are not considered property and thus not a saleable commodity, but in many other countries they are. Even in the Holy Book of the dominant religion in this country there is permission to sell children. It's true that we have moved past the selling of children--except for surrogate motherhood and some adoption sales--and I think that we should continue moving in the direction of taking people out of the realm of "commodities".

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The apocalypse is coming... we're gonna need more ammo.