A Colombian Liver With Your Turkish
Cornea? Leonardo Calcagno, Freezerbox
Children in the Third World are no longer just work slaves or
sexual toys, they’re also spare parts, writes Leonardo Calcagno in
the webzine Freezerbox. Calcagno’s interview with
‘Dr. A’, a Montreal organ bank worker who wishes to remain
anonymous, reveals the seamier side of the global organ transplant
trade. ‘Did you know that a human body can be sold for $35,000 and
the skeleton alone can be sold for $200 a gram?’ says Dr. A.
‘That’s almost four times the price of cocaine.’ With such
astronomical profits to be made, the organ market is booming,
despite a flurry of international attention in the late 1980s from
the United Nations, International Health Organization, OXFAM and
others. What can be done about organ trafficking? ‘Contact your
officials and demand investigations,’ says Dr. A. ‘Call Human
Rights international and sign petitions, demand a tighter control
of donor banks.’ Above all, ‘sign your organ donor cards.’ The
traffic persists only because the demand for organs is far greater
than the legal supply. ‘If you are a parent and your kid is dying
because he’s waiting for a transplant,’ Dr. A explains, ‘you will
do anything in your power to save him, even if [it] is taking
someone’s life.’
–Leif
Utne
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