Statement of Senator Richard Gordon
ON THE COMMERCIAL EXPORT OF HUMAN KIDNEYS
Recently we saw a news report on CNN where Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca of the Philippine National Kidney Institute broached the idea of legalizing the export or sale of human kidneys.
We think that such a proposition is unethical and immoral.
The act of donating any human organ should be done with the intention of saving and extending another's life. It should be an altruistic act, where the donor or the body of the donor is treated with utmost dignity and respect. It is also a situation where the receiver of the human organ receives it as a gift of life.
The commercial export and sale of human kidneys or any human organ for that matter dehumanizes and desecrates this act. It treats the human body as a mere commodity, a potential scrap heap of body parts up for sale for the highest bidder and to profit from this trade is unconscionable.
We have already learned of cases in recent years where poverty stricken men and women sold their kidneys out of desperation. Proposing the legalization of the sale of human organs will, with all certainty, give rise to an industry that will feed off and add to the suffering of millions of our people caught in dire financial straights.
We will block off any such proposal to legalize the sale of human organs.
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