Organ Trafficking
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Organ black market organ trade statistics by country is the trade of human organstissues or other body parts for the purpose of transplantation.
There is a global need or demand for healthy body parts for transplantation, far exceeding the numbers available. As of [update]about 90, people were reported to be waiting for a new organ in the United States. The legal status of organ trade, however, is changing around the world. For example, inboth Australia and Singapore legalized financial compensation for living organ donors.
Trade in human organs is illegal in many jurisdictions in a number of ways and for black market organ trade statistics by country reasons, though organ trafficking is widespread, as is transplant tourism. The data on the extent of the black market is difficult to obtain. The question of whether to legalize and regulate the organ trade to combat illegal trafficking and organ shortage is hotly debated. Iran is the only nation that allows organs to be bought and sold legally. Black market organ trade statistics by country, it does place restrictions on the commercial organ trade in an attempt to limit transplant tourism.
The market is contained within the country; that is, foreigners are not allowed to buy the organs of Iranian citizens. Additionally, organs can only be transplanted between people of the same nationality — so, for example, an Iranian cannot purchase a kidney from a refugee from another country.
Proponents of legalized organ trade have hailed the Iranian system as an example of an effective and safe organ trading model. An article in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology notes that the Iranian model has avoided many problems associated with organ trade. The article points out that every other solution attempted in other developing countries has failed even to slow down the continual growth of organ transplant wait lists.
As noted above, Australia and Singapore recently legalized monetary compensation for living organ donors. Kidney disease advocacy organizations in both countries have expressed their black market organ trade statistics by country for this new initiative. All other nations have some form of legislation meant to prevent the illegal trading of organs, whether by an outright ban or through legislation that limits how and by whom donations can be made. Many countries, including Belgium and Franceuse a system of presumed consent to increase the amount of legal organs available for transplant.
In the United States, federal law prohibits the sale of organs; however, the government has created initiatives to encourage organ gifting and to compensate those who freely donate their organs. Inthe state of Wisconsin began providing tax deductions to living donors. In the s, pharmaceuticals that prevent organ rejection were introduced. This, along with a lack of medical regulation, helped foster the organ market. Living donor procedures include kidney, livercorneaand lung transplants.
Most organ trade involves kidney or liver transplants. InRobert D. In the letter, and in an earlier paper published in the New England Journal of MedicineTruog addresses the urgent need for additional kidney donors; the transplant procedure's low safety risks; the significant decrease in financial costs, morbidityand mortality rates associated with kidney transplants; and the ability to implement a system of compensated kidney donation with stringent government regulations and ethical safeguards.
The legal trade on blood donation in the U. Decades ago, concerns about the quality of traded blood or organs were a main cause of opposition. However, proponents of organ trade argue that screening technology is now sufficiently efficient to guarantee the safety of traded organs. Due to organ shortage, many transplanted organs are taken from the cadavers of elderly or ill people, which has at times led to the organs failing or containing cancers.
However, waiting for a "better" organ can be dangerous, since those remaining on wait lists have a high risk of death. Professors Becker and Elias note that impulsive or unthinking donations could be prevented via a written consent with a black market organ trade statistics by country waiting period.
Bioethicist Gregory Pence has expressed concerns about the intense social pressure that family, friends, or employees often feel to donate to a patient. China has no organized system of organ donations. The Kilgour—Matas report [23] found that "there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners ", [23] confirming an earlier report. Shortly after reports of organ harvesting emerged, government leaders announced new legislation banning use of organs without consent.
However, no legislation currently prohibits the collection of organs from deceased inmates who sign agreements before being executed. China also introduced new legislation aimed at standardizing its organ collection black market organ trade statistics by country. This legislation includes regulations specifying which hospitals can perform operations and standardizing the legal definition of brain death. Additionally, the legislation banned foreign transplant patients.
It remains to be seen how it could be possible that organ black market organ trade statistics by country surgeries in Chinese hospitals have risen massively sincewhile there are never that many voluntary donors available. Low costs and high availability brought in business from around the globe, and transformed India into one of the largest kidney transplant centers in the world.
In some cases, patients were unaware that a kidney transplant even took place. For example, the THOA states that an organ donor must be a relative, spouse, or an individual donating for reasons of "affection" for the recipient. Often, claims of "affection" are unfounded and the organ donor has no connection to the recipient.
In Iran, it remains legal to sell a kidney for profit. Iran currently has no waitlists for kidney transplantation. These not-for-profit organizations match donors to recipients, setting up tests to ensure compatibility.
Charity organizations support recipients that cannot afford the cost of the organ. Beforethe sale of organs was legal in the Philippinesand the country was a popular destination for transplant tourism. The government banned the sale of organs, effective March Often, he says, banning organ sales fosters compensation-based contractual systems between underground donors, brokers, and buyers.
According to the World Health Organization WHOillegal organ trade occurs when organs are removed from the body for the purpose of commercial transactions. These countries include, but are not limited to:. Criminal networks increasingly engage in kidnappings, especially of children and teenagers, who are then taken to locations with medical equipment.
There they are murdered and their organs harvested for the illegal organ trade. Poverty and loopholes in legislation black market organ trade statistics by country contribute to the illegal trade of organs. As discussed above, legislation containing loopholes, like India's Transplantation of Human Organs Act, allows organ sales to continue.
This provides another loophole for illegal trade; in some cases, an organ donor will marry the recipient to avoid a legal penalty. The international community and national governments have long attempted to find stable, ethical systems to deal with the high demand for organ transplants. Inthe United States implemented the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act ofwhich gave individuals the right to donate their organs after their death. The most recent efforts of the United States to combat high organ demand include the revision of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act in and the Charlie W.
Norwood Living Organ Donation Act. Many other countries have passed laws aimed at ending illegal organ trade. For example, South Africa adopted the Human Tissue Act ofwhich outlaws the transfer of tissue including fleshbone, organ, or bodily fluid in exchange for payment.
Though claims of organ trafficking are difficult to substantiate due to lack of evidence and black market organ trade statistics by country data, cases of illegal organ trade have been tried and prosecuted in the past. InBombay police exposed a kidney sale and transplantation operation run by a man known as Santosh Raut. Eleven people, including Raut and two nephrologists, were arrested, but Raut managed to escape.
Authorities believe that Raut went on to establish similar illegal kidney centers across many Indian cities.
In Februaryanother kidney transplant center, run by a man called Amit Kumarwas discovered by police in Delhi and nearby Gurgaon. Due to technological advances in fingerprinting, Kumar and Raut are now believed to be the same perpetrator, having gone by many aliases throughout years of illegal activity. Kumar is facing charges for his decades of involvement in illegal organ trade, which includes over illegal kidney transplants and the involvement of at least two hospitals.
She also heard reports that Rosenbaum held donors at gunpoint to ensure they donated their organs. Augustine's Hospital, owned black market organ trade statistics by country operated by the private company Netcare Kwa-Zulu Pty Limited, guilty of counts of activity relating to illegal kidney transplant operations.
Convicted along with the private company were four transplant doctors, a nephrologist, two transplant administrative coordinators, and a translator. The charges against the parent company, Netcareand its CEO, Richard Friedland, were dropped in order to obtain an admission of guilt from the hospital. The private company pleaded guilty to illegal kidney operations performed on IsraeliRomanianand Brazilian citizens between June and Novemberincluding five minors.
These citizens received cash following their surgeries, while the private company was paid up-front for its involvement in the operations. In DecemberTurkish nationals were reported to be involved in organ trafficking in Kosovo. Inan alleged member of the Mexican Knights Templar Cartel was arrested for kidnapping and murdering minors. Children were found wrapped in blankets and stuffed in a refrigerated container inside a van. Various accounts have stated the arrested man is part of a network that kidnaps and kills minors, after which their organs are removed.
The Cartel's other sources of income include drug traffickingextortionillegal miningand, illegal logging. There have been various portrayals of illegal organ trade and organ trafficking in the mass media over the past few decades. The fictional novel Coma by Robin Cookmade into a black market organ trade statistics by country by Michael Crichtontells of unsuspecting medical patients who are put into a coma in order for their organs to be black market organ trade statistics by country.
Similarly, black market organ trade statistics by country book The Baby Train by Jan Brunvand reveals the mythical story of a man who wakes up in his hotel room with a missing kidney the night after flirting with a woman at a bar.
Many of the organ trafficking tales depicted in the media contain unsubstantiated claims. The program investigated alleged organ and tissue trafficking in GuatemalaHondurasArgentinaand Russia.
One episode discussed a man named Pedro Reggi, reporting that his corneas had been black market organ trade statistics by country without his consent while he was hospitalized in a mental facility. Reggi later disputed this claim, saying black market organ trade statistics by country his corneas were still intact, and he had just been suffering from an acute eye infection.
Critics, such as Silke Meyer, argue that this sensationalized view of organ trafficking, often depicted as an urban mythdistracts attention from the illegal organ trade. They call for increased scientific research on illegal organ trade, so that organ trafficking legends can be replaced by scientific fact.
InScott Carney coined the term "Red Market" to describe a broad category of economic transactions related to the human body. He writes that this increased demand has enabled a vast "Red Market," encompassing a wide variety of transactions, from organ sale to organ thievery, 'bone thievery,' 'blood farming,' and even rented space in women's wombs.
Black market organ trade statistics by country on the concepts of black markets, white marketsand gray marketsCarney suggests that commerce in body parts is distinct because bodies are not commodities in a strict sense. That black market organ trade statistics by country, a body part and its worth cannot be assigned a monetary value. Furthermore, Carney argues, trade in body parts creates a lifelong debt between the provider and the recipient.
Straight commerce in human bodies reduces a human life to its 'meat value.
