More on iPhones...

[Paul Mobbs]

Do you think Apple stores will team up with hospitals to adopt this idea as 
a sort of part-exchange payment system?

In the contest for a contemporary metaphor for both the excesses and 
failures of consumerism, this has got to be one of the finalists  :-(((


P.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17640209

China arrests after kidney sold for iPad

BBC News, 6th April 2012


Five people have been arrested in southern China after a teenager sold his 
kidney so he could buy an iPhone and iPad, state media have reported.

Those detained include the surgeon who removed the kidney from the boy in 
April last year.

State-run Xinhua news agency says the group received around $35,000 
(£22,000) for the transplant.

The student is said to be suffering renal failure, according to prosecutors 
in Hunan province quoted by Xinhua.

Only identified by his surname Wang, he is said to have received about 
$3,000 for his kidney.

The 17-year-old was reportedly recruited for the illegal trade through an 
online chatroom.


Organ shortage

The case was discovered when his mother noticed the new gadgets; when asked 
where he got the money, he admitted selling a kidney.

The group behind the operation have been charged with causing intentional 
injury and illegal organ trading.

While Apple iPhones and iPads are very popular in China, they are priced 
beyond the reach of many urban workers.

And there is a constant shortage of organ donors.

Official figures from the health ministry show that about 1.5 million people 
need transplants, but only 10,000 are performed annually.

Executed prisoners have been often used as a source of organs, but last 
month China vowed to phase this out over the next five years. 

- -- 

.

"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government,
nor are we for this party nor against the other but we are
for justice and mercy and truth and peace and true freedom,
that these may be exalted in our nation, and that goodness,
righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity with
God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burrough, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

Paul's book, "Energy Beyond Oil", is out now!
For details see http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/ebo/

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http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/ecolonomics/

Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
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email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
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