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Published on March 29, 2008

With the title "Must tighten control", the editorial said that a growing number of young transvestites were getting cheap castrations, not only reflecting a social trend where society shows more tolerance to the "third sex", but also showing lax supervision in the Thai medical sector.

The paper said that after groups of gay activists came out to protest the castrations of minors, it was revealed that such surgery is life threatening. The surgery is in response to the boys' wish to change their sex later.

But the surgery at a young age would affect the boys' hormones. Thus, these boys would have to take female hormones.

Besides, those who have been castrated are likely to enter middle age sooner than a normal person of 45.

Moreover, pre-teenage boys may not know what they want. They are at the stage of soul searching. They may not be ready to take such a major decision by themselves. Some may be homosexual. Pre-teenage boys can be easily confused by their raging hormones. Thus, it is not the right age for them to decide whether they should undergo a sex-change operation.

In fact, these boys should undergo a process of psychological testing to prepare themselves and to ensure they are ready for castration. But as it turns out, many clinics offer this service without testing their readiness.

The Medical Council has yet to introduce regulations to control these clinics, even though this has been an issue for some time. The council should speed up issuing the regulations to control these clinics instead of waiting until complaints arise.

This trend shows the close relationship between the medical service and business. There are advertisements for this kind of service on websites (the surgery can be as cheap as Bt4,000). 

Some doctors try to persuade the boys to have second thoughts before deciding to castrate, and provide information about the impact of castration. The warning from Natee Theerarojjanaphon, a well-known gay activist, should help some boys to be more cautious before taking such a major decision.

Food prices rise

Krungthep Thurakij expressed concern over rising food prices. It said that food prices, which directly affect people, are set to become a major issue because of the food crisis worldwide.

Since December last year, 37 countries have faced a food crisis. Some 20 countries have introduced measures to control prices.

Food prices on the world market rose by 23 per cent last year largely because of unstable weather, rising oil prices, declining food stocks and an increasing demand for food in China and India.  Besides, the rise of oil prices will put pressure on fertiliser and transport prices. The rising oil price further encourages counties to shift toward bio-fuel production, leading to rising demand for maize, sugar and soy beans, the source of bio-fuels.

Trade policy also affects rising prices. The global effort to reduce farm subsidies results in a lower number of farm production reserves.

Economists expect that food prices will continue to rise or at least stay at this high level for the next 10 years.

Nonetheless, the rising food price does not seem to benefit people in the farm sector because more than 200 million people worldwide are still living in poverty. the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific reported that although countries in the region saw economic growth of around 7 per cent in the past decade, two-thirds of the population live in poverty.

Thus, Escap suggested that governments help adjust farm investment to assist farmers and increase production capacity.

The Nation