The debate is currently gaining public attention here in Singapore. For the moment, the official stance of the government is that legalizing the sales of human organs (eg. a rich man with kidney failure buying a kidney from a poor man), is "unethical and immoral, and clearly against the law".
However (and the issue/debate is one that is naturally relevant to every man in every country on the planet), there are extremely compelling arguments for both sides, and against both sides. The greatest concern, universally agreed upon, is that the poor would be exploited into selling their organs to the rich, while at the same time the poor still wouldn't be able to afford buying organs when they needed them.
Personally, I find it most compelling, to ensure that in the first place, healthy kidneys (and overall health) do not fail. To this end, it is vital that public education and awareness, on the helpful work of Aajonus Vonderplanitz, Hilarion, et al, needs to be heightened.
On a separate note, Andy Ho, a journalist with The Straits Times, is a rather interesting individual. Being in a journalistic position, and being a forthright, opinionated man; he deliberately makes it a point to speak his mind on (what society commonly regards as) controversial issues of current affairs.
As such, it is unsurprising that he has both supporters and enemies. Personally, I observe that Andy Ho is a thoughtful, insightful, opinionated but balanced, mature, philosophical and spiritual minded individual with a good deal of wisdom, even if I do not necessarily agree with all of his views.
Again, however, as I've pointed out, because the subject matter that he (deliberately) chooses to speak on, are already by nature controversial (ie. we already have lots of hot-headed, and usually angry, guys on both sides/camps on the issue being debated, whatever it may be), it is inevitable that many project their anger upon Andy (and other individuals from the opposing camp; rather than thinking clearly and working on the issue itself), and as such, one might think Andy an unpopular man with many enemies.
But Andy is a good man motivated by a good ethical heart, with sincerely held views that he is not afraid of sharing. It does not mean all his views are correct for you (since there is no such thing as right and wrong, anyway), or that you should agree with everything he says - I certainly don't. But I respect him for his good intentions.
Below, see Andy Ho's article on the debate on legalizing the sale of human organs, as well as 2 (unflattering) webpage blogs/posts on Andy Ho :
Andy Ho on Legalizing Organ Sales :
http://infinity.usanethosting.com/Kidney/AndyHo_on_Kidneys.jpg
"Who is this Andy Ho?" (which includes a dozen other links on opinions on Andy Ho)
http://thatbottle.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/who-is-this-andy-ho/
"Why Andy Ho is Wrong"
http://shianux.jiyuuu.org/2005/01/30/prescription_drugs_homophobia_and_bad_economics/
