One of the most abhorrent facets of advanced capitalism is the commodification of human organs, which is becoming a thriving global market, largely made of up wealthy European and American recipients and poor ‘donors’. I use the world donor with some reservation because the word implies some sort of willing and conscience decision. The fact of the matter is that many people, specifically in Pakistan and India, are deceived into selling their organs. As the International Herald Tribune notes, poor donors are duped by organ-transplant racket which often pray on the most vulnerable in society. Human organ trafficking is a lucrative business.

In 2002, the New York Daily News reported that ‘Illicit organ donors from Moldova, the poorest country in the former Soviet Union, enter the United States—mostly at Kennedy Airport—on false student or tourist visas. They are whisked to hospitals where their organs are removed and sold.’ The market for human organs is illegal in the United States and strictly regulated but that does not stop the market one bit. A thriving new market, known as transplant tourism, allows Westerners otherwise limited by the governments to have transplants, go to places like Pakistan and India to get fresh organs.

Like any market, there is a functional reason for the rise in the market for human organs. As National Geographic noted in 2004, “In the United States, a new person is added to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) list every 14 minutes’. There are an astounding number of individuals who need organ transplant and not enough licit organs to go around. Many wealthy individuals see this as a impediment to their ability to secure the proper organs and some have even called them ‘socialist breadlines.’ No wonder that these same individuals go to South Asia. Why wait in a line when you have the money to get what you need ASAP. Some will argue that we cannot really blame the traffickers, who are otherwise helping the local population. A kidney in Pakistan can fetch roughly 900 U.S. dollars that is almost three times what the typical Pakistani makes. This sort of thinking presupposes that if an action helps someone, than it can not be judged by our morals, seeing that we live in a rich nation. This sort of thinking permeates within those who apologize for capitalism. The problem is that when people make this sort of argument, they are saying that poor people in the Third World should not be judged by the same morals we hold…which if allowed to be used readily, can condone ANY action.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 7:29 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.