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The World 's First Successful Kidney Transplant

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In 1954, the world’s first successful kidney transplant between two live people took place. 30 years later, kidney transplantation was now common and acceptably safe, and in 1984, the sale of organs was banned through the National Organ Transplant Act, meaning any organ used may only be through donation. Under this act, however, only one person has ever be prosecuted for the brokering illegal organs. In the years since, illegal organ trafficking has sprung up in India, China, the US, Brazil, and South Africa with little to no real evidence of an end to the injustice it causes.
The demand for kidneys is generated largely in the US. As of January 2016, 100,791 people are on a waiting list for a life-saving kidney in America. Over 3,000 people are added to the waiting list each month and 13 people die each day while on hold for an organ transplant ("The National Kidney"). There is massive demand for kidneys in the US, and while certain family members of the sick are willing to donate theirs to save a life, there aren’t enough willing to give their kidney. Parents of a child who is dying of a kidney-caused issue become desperate enough to consider resorting to illegal solutions. It is this extreme imbalance in the supply and demand of donated kidneys that generates the black market organ trade.
In the late 1980s, transplant doctors in the Persian Gulf noticed that their patients were leaving for India and returning with transplanted organs. This was the first case of transplant

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