-Caveat Lector- Filipino Slum Dwellers Sold Kidneys By OLIVER TEVES .c The Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Selling their kidneys for what seemed a small fortune promised to be the path to a better life for dozens of residents of the seaside slum district of Bagong Lupa. But now they are as poor as before and have nothing much to show for their organ donations except for scars on the sides of their bodies. In addition, many say they are unable to find work as laborers because employers at the nearby port of Manila and construction sites demand only healthy workers. The $1,800 that Norberto Papa earned by selling his kidney is gone and the shanty he built with the money is shaky after a recent storm. However, he said he's happy after learning that the businessman who received his kidney is alive and well. ``If not for my kidney, he would have been dead by now,'' Papa said, hoping that the businessman will now help him. He said he was not told by doctors about the health implications of having only one kidney before it was removed. He was told only after the operation that he will have to watch salt and sugar in his diet. Controversy over the sale of organs is nothing new, and every time the topic comes into public view through the media, there is debate. In the past, however, organ selling wasn't discussed as openly, and now for the first time the government is talking about imposing some regulations on the practice. Philippine President Joseph Estrada said this week he opposes the sale of kidneys and will try and get the practice banned. In addition, Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez said this week the government soon will draw up organ donation guidelines by people unrelated to the recipient. ``One of the guidelines will be that there should be no intervening person,'' he said. ``There cannot be free consent if there is a broker.'' The sale of Papa's kidney was brokered by Dalmacio Zeta, who says he did the same for about 100 men from Bagong Lupa starting in 1992. He earned a commission of $300 for each sale, he says. After seven years, however, Zeta, 48, is as poor as the men he persuaded to ``donate'' their kidneys. Business has been declining and he has been unable to broker a sale since February, he says. His house on the garbage-littered shore of Manila Bay was demolished by storm waves and his family now lives in a shed the size of a big dinner table. Romeo Olinas, a former welder, is unhappy that he sold his kidney to an Arab man for $2,000. He said he spent at least $130 for medical expenses after the operation. He also complained about the low-salt, low-sugar diet he must maintain to avoid any kidney ailment. ``Had I known in advance, I would not have agreed,'' he said. Zeta says he doesn't force donors to give up their kidneys. He says they receive as much as $2,500 from foreign recipients and $1,800 from Filipinos. ``They agree because they are desperate, like gripping a knife's blade,'' he said. Zeta laments that the donors have not risen from poverty, but he blames drug use by some of them. ``When they have money, they buy drugs,'' he said. He said he works as an agent for a Japanese man and a Filipino woman who contact him to collect donors. Zeta said he brings potential donors to a hospital for tests before operations are conducted at the government-run National Kidney and Transplantation Institute and at St. Luke's Medical Center. Institute director Dr. Enrique Ona was not immediately available for comment. St. Luke's president, Jose F.G. Ledesma, said reports that donors were selling their kidneys were an ``eye opener'' because hospital officials and doctors were led to believe all donations were voluntary. ``It bothered us because we did not like the idea that there are middlemen brokering donations for a fee,'' he said. ``It should not be a business proposition.'' He said the hospital suspended early this month all organ donations by nonrelatives while an ethics committee reviews its policies. Earlier, it suspended organ transplants for foreigners from local donors because of allegations that syndicates were involved in the procurement of organs for foreign patients, he said. He said ``compensated or rewarded donations'' raise ethical and moral questions, but at the same time save lives. ``So how do you balance both schools of thought?'' DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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