Organ Trafficking Is The Illegal Trade Of Human Organs For Transplantation

Today we are in great need of a solution to solve the problem of the shortage of human organs available for transplant. The website for Donate Life America estimates that in the United States over 100 people per day are added to the current list of over 100,000 men, women, and children that are waiting for life-saving transplants. Sadly enough, approximately 18 people a day on that list die just because they cannot outlive the wait for the organ that they so desperately need to survive. James Burdick, director of the Division of Transplantation for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services confirms, “The need for organ transplants continues to grow and this demand continues to outpace the supply of transplantable organs”. The

“Illegal trade in kidneys has risen to such a level that an estimated 10,000 black market operation involving purchased human organs now take place annually or more than one an hour” (The Guardian, 2012). People that are in the need of an organ and willing to participate in illegal activities will either send a broker or go directly to another country where people are lacking in the knowledge of the situation or have an extreme disability and buy an organ rom that individual. In most cases a broker will promise the seller a great amount of money, but in the end they will only receive a fraction of the money that was promised and for some they receive no money. If a broker cannot buy an organ they will steal one. “However, when the organ, like many other valuables that cannot be bought, it is stolen resulting in flagrant violation of human rights” (U.N.O.D.C, 2000). It is currently illegal to buy or sell human organ in the United States and many other countries. People involved with the operation of human trafficking will be charged with a trafficking offence. “For a trafficking offence to be established must be evidence of an illegal act (recruitment) followed by an illegal means (coercion) for the purpose of exploitation (organ harvesting), one in ten organ transplants are illegal” (U.N.O.D.C, 2000). Illegal sales of organs are increasing the rate of criminal

Over the last few decades, the number of patients on organ waiting lists in the US has continued to soar way above the number of organ donor. In some cases, patients have died waiting for organs from donors. According to available statistics, more than 100,000 patients are in the US transplant list waiting for organ donors. On the other hand, only 20% of these patients are likely to receive a legitimate organ donor and the fate of the other 80% lies in the balance (Rattenni 20). This shortage in the life saving organ transplant has led to a surge in illegal human trafficking cartels and black market vendor ready to exploit the desperate situation of these patients. In some cases, there have been cases of living donor ready to sale their organs for cash rewards.

The desperation that rose as a result of the human organ shortage crisis led to the creation of an entire new business in the black market: transplant tourism. A similar term, called medical tourism, is defined as “the travel of residents of one country to another country for treatment” (Cohen, 2013). Like medical tourism, transplant tourism involves traveling as well, but with the motive of purchasing organs for transplant (Cohen, 2013). It is currently illegal in all countries—besides Iran, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia—to exchange human organs for money. Yet this particular black market still happens to thrive in many destination countries due to the government’s failure to monitor the issue or the absence of resources to detect its general occurrence. The parties involved in this business consist of three different categories: sellers, recipients, and brokers. The majority of sellers come from the poorest parts of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. The recipients come from the more affluent countries like the Middle East, south Asia, Europe, and North America. The brokers are the people running this particular black market and they reside in the countries where the illegal transplants occur: Istanbul, Cesenau, Moldova, Tel Aviv, and Manila—just to name a few (Cohen,

There are at least 66,000 Americans awaiting kidneys, while only a tenth of that number of kidneys are transplanted from deceased donors per year (Postrel). The amount of people awaiting organs is rising, and with the shortage of organs that are

Organ trafficking is an illegal act that occurs globally. Traffickers are taking organs out of people using unhealthy medical procedures that cause serious health problems in many people in countries all over the world. Money is a strict motivation that keeps this black market running and increasing due to the disproportionate ratio of organs needed to survive, and organs available to transplant. There are many arguments revolving around the issue of organ donation in terms of ethics, limiting the ways people can donate. There is a very long process one would have to go through if considering donation, including a psychological examination in addition to the first part of the process to determine if the organ from the donor is a match for the recipient. Selling organs for profit is considered unethical as society views organ transplantation as an act that should be an altruistic donation, meaning that donations should be done without profit. Although there are laws restricting the act of organ trafficking, it is a growing industry because people do not understand the gravity of the damage being caused to targeted individuals and the community. In order to make a global change to put an end organ trafficking, people unaware of the activity should be educated of the act and the negative consequences it can have on multiple levels of the community. Organ trafficking can hurt an individual physically, mentally and financially

Every ten minutes a new person is added to the waiting list for organ transplants. With only three in one thousand people dying in a way that allows for organ donation, twenty-two people die each day waiting for a transplant. Almost all U.S. adults support organ donation, but less than half are actually signed up as organ donors (Organ Donation Statistics). Currently, the people desperate for organs or money turning to illegal hospitals and black-markets for buying and selling organs. Though the members of organ trafficking are rarely exposed and therefore the size of the problem is unknown, something has to be done for the people in need of organs now. The near future should hold a piece of health care technology that creates organs, combatting the unfortunate statistics of organ donations and the organized crime of trafficking organs.

The National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) makes it illegal to sell human organs and tissues in the United States (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment. Congress made this law to ensure wealthy individuals do not have an unfair advantage for receiving an organ donation. Some illegal organ trafficking does occur; the World Health Organization estimates about one-fifth of all kidney donation may not be legally donated (Troug, 2005). Paying for an organ is an unjust moral pressure for the donor. In contrast to the law, some argue in favor of allowing organs to be sold for monetary incentive to increase the supply of organs to meet the high demand. This is an example of utilitarianism ethics, as the ends of giving lives from donating organs justify the means of paying for the organ. Furthermore, organs are being sold in other places of the world. For example, in India, individuals sell their kidneys for $700, and in Bombay, there have been kidnapping cases where people are killed for they organs (Troug, 2005).

Organ trafficking deals with the illegal act of exchanging human organs or tissues at an agreed price. This practice involves mafia networks that collect organs from dead or living persons. A majority of people involved in this illicit business are poverty stricken and so, they see it as a promise of a brighter future. While the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined strict rules, imposed ethical standards along with the absence of any monetary compensation, the trade of organs in the black market has continued to develope ridiculously.

The main crime which involves organ selling is organ trafficking and abduction where children kidnapping cases is popular these days. For example, in China, a missing six years old was found, however, after the inspection both of his eyes were removed (Ancher, D 2013). Moreover, the main objective for kidnappers is to gain more money. As for organ trafficking, victims are mostly being cheated by not getting paid or not getting the correct amount. According from the same source, an average buyer would spend around $150,000 - $200,000 for an organ while the donor only gets $5,000. Medical Daily (2013) explained that by doing organ trafficking, they are able to generate between $600 million and $1.2 billion in profits per year, whereas the most commonly trade organs are usually kidneys and livers. Top countries which involves organ trafficking is Moldova, India, China, Philippines etc. where it is shown to be mainly from developing countries. Hence, it shows that organ sales have a negative influence towards the economy which could increase in crime rate especially in developing

When one suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes it cause strain on the persons kidneys’ overtime eventually causing them to fail. A hundred years ago a person would have died of such a condition but following World War II surgical transplants from living and dead donors began saving many countless lives (World Health Organization). Thus in the case of kidney failure one is forced to go on to continuous dialysis until a replacement kidney can be found. Sometimes the patient is lucky where they have a family member whose blood type matches up and is willing to give up a kidney. But not everyone is so lucky many times patients are forced into long waiting lists waiting for their turn to receive an organ from an organ donor

As mentioned in the introduction, organ trafficking can be seen as a violation of an essential human right. Upon further examination, organ trafficking also violates ethical principles and professional virtues.

“In the early eighties, a new form of human trafficking as a global phenomenon developed in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, namely, global trafficking in the kidneys of living persons (Rheeder, 2017).” There have been many instances around the world where people secretly buy other people for many different reasons; one of those reasons being for their organs. There are horrific stories about organ trafficking that arise in today's society. Organ trafficking, or organ harvesting, is the removal and illegal selling of organs.

The legalization of organ sales has been proposed as a solution to two distinct problems. The first is the problem of illegal organ trafficking and the second is the problem of inadequate supplies of organs available for transplants. Gregory (2011) outlined the case for legalizing organ sales by arguing that the current shortage of organs fuels a black market trade that benefits nobody except criminals. He further argues that such a move would add organs to the market, thereby saving the lives of those who would otherwise die without a transplant, while delivering fair value to the person donating the organ. There are a number of problems with the view that legalizing the organ trade is beneficial. Such a move would exacerbate negative health outcomes for the poor, strengthening inequality, but such a move would also violate any reasonable standard of ethics, by inherently placing a price on one's life and health. This paper will expand on these points and make the case that we should not allow people to pay for organs.

The delegate of Russia believes even though some nations like Russia are trying to get rid of organ trafficking, without the uncompromising effort of the other developed nations to ban importing trafficked organs within their own countries, it will be impossible to end this injustice. Developed countries must organize a system that would encourage an increase in legal organ donors, such as the opt-out system which has been successfully introduced in several countries, or reconsider and deregulate the present system on the basis of WHO guidelines. At the same time, laws must be organized to punish illegal trafficking groups in order to protect poor ‘donors’ from being lured into the organ trade.