tags: organ market, organ trafficking, organ transplants
The financial crisis in Europe has sparked an increase in the trade
of human body parts, as families and individuals scramble to put food
on the table. Experts say that the black market for human organs --
traditionally based in India, China, Brazil and the Philippines -- is
spreading to crisis-hit Western countries like Greece, Italy, Spain and
poor Balkan nations like Serbia. Vulnerable and impoverished people are
trying to sell their kidneys, bone marrow, lungs or corneas, spurred on
by the internet, amoral organ traffickers and a global shortfall of
organs for transplantation.
A 46-year-old businessman from Piraeus, Greece, said recently that
the only way to rescue his family from ending up on the street was to
sell one of his kidneys for €100,000, or US$123,000. He told Greek media
that he even hired a private investigator to track down a buyer.
The trade has expanded to the US where, according to experts, there
have been many recent cases of poor undocumented immigrants selling
their kidneys via websites such as Craigslist to get by.
“Thanks to the global financial crisis organ trafficking is a growth
industry,” said Jonathan Ratel, a European Union prosecutor. “Organized
criminal groups are preying upon the vulnerable on both sides of the
supply chain, people suffering from chronic poverty, and desperate and
wealthy patients who will do anything to survive,” he said.
While accurate statistics are hard to find, 15,000 to 20,000 kidneys
are sold illegally each year, according to Organ Watch, a human rights
group in Berkeley, California, that tracks the illegal trade in organs.
The UN estimates that 5% to 10% of kidney transplants performed annually
result from organ trafficking. Mr Ratel, the prosecutor, said organ
tourists mainly come from the US, Britain, France, Israel, Italy and
Germany. Often, donors never see a penny, he added. ~ New York Times, Jun 1
http://www.bioedge.org/index.php/bioethics/bioethics_article/10107
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