Cash for kidneys

I got up this morning to be greeted with this: Cash for kidneys  and the rules are:

• Living donors will be offered cash grants up to $3,600
• Donors must have a job and employers will distribute payments over six weeks
• Paid leave scheme will be offered for living donors offering kidneys and parts of their liver 

Where was the discussion? The consultation? The inclusion? It is being described as a radical pilot programme. It is more than that. It is a complete breakdown in communication and has a total disregard for ethics in our society. Paying people for body parts is  a massive break from whom we are and what we think and NO government official has the right to implement a programme such as this without a full and proper discussion. It's outrageous. I totally abhor the notion of anyone generating income from the sale of their body bits and I totally abhor the notion a government would encourage this. Paying their wages is paying them for the organ.  It is something which has to be discussed NOT implemented. There are a whole heap of steps missing - like social ramifications, workplace ramifications, personal ramifications. A parent selling a kidney to help someone else is a family and social issue . An adult fundraising through sale of their kidney and then creating pressure in the workplace because they have to have leave and the workload is then spread to others - that has implications. The fundamental belief, though, that it is government sanctioned sale of body parts is horrific and certainly needs to be addressed because it is not ethical. So does the notion that it can only be applied to people who work. Those who work are entitled to have their wages covered for donation. Those who don't work? They can donate a kidney and pay their own way through recovery? No government has my permission to enact such a trial or programme without my permission  because it breaks with notions which people hold very dearly in Australia. I am so disgusted I am working hard to stay calm. I cannot believe this is Sunday 7th April in Australia 2013.