The Wired Feb 2011 contains an article entitled “The Red Market”. This is the name that investigative reporter Scott Carney gives to the commercial trade in human organs, tissue, and reproductive capacity. Mr. Carney, who once lived in Chennai, India is also the author of a forthcoming book and blog of the same name.
The Red Market. Image from Amazon
I like Mr. Carney’s work, though I disagree with his belief that the organ trade in India is mostly driven by demand from rich American patients and could be curbed by forcing all Americans to donate their organs upon death. (More on that in a future blog post.)
The Red Market article is misleading in two very disturbing ways. Scott Chaney and Wired describe the exploitation of the poor in less developed nations.
“The problem is, demand for replacement flesh grossly outstrips supply. In the US and like-minded countries, it’s illegal to sell body parts–they can be taken only from those who filled out a donor card before they died or who are willing to give up an organ out of sheer benevolence. This means there isn’t enough tissue to go around. So, as with any outlawed or heavily regulated resource, a bustling underground trade has formed.
“Sometimes the market in body parts is exploitative: Desperate people are paid tiny sums for huge donations. Other times it is ghoulish: Pieces are stolen from the recently dead. And every so often, the resource grab is lethal–people are simply killed for their organs. Welcome to the red market.”
The paragraphs above leave the impression that these gruesome activities are commonly practiced in the U.S. They are not. Organ trafficking is outlawed in the U.S. by the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984. No hospital or surgeon in the U.S. would dare violate the law and lose its accreditation or go to jail (despite what you see on TV night-time soap operas). Outside the U.S., transplants that are suspected to exploit the donor are prohibited at any hospital that abides by the Declaration of Istanbul which denounces transplant tourism.
The story is followed by six pages listing the price of various types of transplant surgery in the U.S. Unfortunately, the data is illustrated using price tags. Thus, the reader may assume the price is for the organ only. Further, they may get the impression that there is an active black market for organs in the U.S. There is not.
By mixing practices in India with the U.S. and making it appear that organs are sold in the U.S., this popular magazine may deter rich Americans from donating their organs. This is the exact opposite of what needs to happen for the global organ shortage to be mitigated. Damn you Wired!
Photo by Christian Weber and illustrations by Istvan Orosz for Wired
What has me really worked up is that this isn’t the first time that Wired has sensationalized the organ shortage by featuring the prices of organs. In April 2007, it published a map showing the black market price of various organs in several less developed countries. Gore may sell magazines, but it doesn’t help any patients get off the waiting list.
[Update: Added link to the article.]
January 22, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Well said, George.
January 22, 2011 at 8:03 pm
This is perhaps one of the biggest slaps in the face to living donors. I suppose that this article is written from the very dark side of organ donation. As an altruistic living kidney donor, that was the domino for eight people to receive a kidney..it’s purely insulting.
If you want to pick an issue how about how the increasing number of living donors and especially altruistic donors that continue to grow. It is against the law to try and buy or procure an organ. Now with that being said, why not jump on the wagon with the recent prisoner being excused from their sentence so they could donate an organ to a family member?? Isn’t this actually a form of compensation? It certainly is to me. What happens in other countries is horrible. Individuals have actually sold their kidneys for money to survive in that country. To believe that greedy americans are responsible for this is a non supported theory.
The reality is that there are over 87,000 people on the waiting list for a kidney here in the US. Even with deceased donors, those who have marked on their license as an organ donor, the numbers simply are not enough to keep up with the demand for the number of people waiting for a kidney. The average wait is 5 years plus!
The only way that we can reduce this list is for there to be more living donors, who can participate in kidney pairings, and altruistic donors who again, can be the dominio of a large or small pairing.
How about this publication focusing on the inredible movement here to reduce the numbers and educate the public on the options. The “horrific” acts portrayed in this article I do not believe is the normal here in the US.
Thank you so much for writing a piece of literature that is total garbage. Someone certainly didn’t do their homework and research on this topic.
January 22, 2011 at 9:07 pm
If you are an organ donor (living or next-of-kin of deceased) or transplant recipient and are upset by this article, please go to http://www.wired.com/about/feedback/ to register your complaint.
January 27, 2011 at 6:18 am
Thanks for thinking about my story in this month’s issue of Wired. I think you make some good points, particularly about the price issue. While the rates that I used in this story are based on real transactions and the best available data, the actual price varies quite widely. Like most other commodities, organs tend to sell for what the market will bear, instead of an arbitrary price tag.
I think, to an extent, you have also misread my article by suggesting that I’m saying that the illegal trade in organs in India is based on US demand. Sales to US customers for live organs are low in India, most international sales there are inter-south asia. Or from the vast Indian diaspora. Worldwide, however, many Americans travel abroad to pay for organ transplants. There are also multiple US insurance companies that will pay for operations abroad.
As for the slap in the face to US living donors, I understand the sentiment, but do not think that exposing the underbelly of the transplant/tissue industry is an attack on them. Quite the opposite, it is an attack on the people who criminally abuse the system and undercut sacrifices of altruistic donors. It doesn’t serve anyone’s interest to allow unethical organ harvesting.
As I mention in my forthcoming book, for this project I am not interested in the demand for human tissue (which you have noted is ample, and use the example of the incredibly long UNOS transplant list), rather I concentrate on what happens on the supply side of the equation when market mentalities invade the donation system.
I do appreciate the feedback. I would be happy to continue the conversation.
Best,
Scott Carney
January 29, 2011 at 6:38 am
Can someone post a link directly to the article? I want to read it and can’t find it on the Wired site.
February 1, 2011 at 11:40 am
The article is now available at http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/01/ff_redmarkets/. I’ve added the link to the original blog post.
February 1, 2011 at 12:12 pm
It’s a sensational story that doesn’t provide enough supporting facts for its claims. It is sad what people will do when they are desperate. But I didn’t read it and think that India’s issues were caused by rich Americans. More likely rich Indians. Or that abuses were taking place in the U.S. Though they do happen. Remember the New York “matchmaker” who held people at gunpoint until they surrendered a kidney?
I would love to read an article long enough to explore and substantiate these claims, but this wasn’t it.
February 2, 2011 at 12:06 pm
These concerns resurfaced in 2001 when reported claims by a Chinese asylum-seeking doctor that he had taken part in organ extraction operations. In 2007 China issued regulations banning the commercial trading of organs and the Chinese Medical Association agreed that the organs of prisoners should not be used for transplantation except for members of the immediate family of the deceased. Despite these initiatives reported in August 2009 that approximately 65 of transplanted organs still came from death row prisoners.
February 15, 2011 at 11:54 am
[…] it does a regular purchase in a grocery store. As one reader pointed out in a post named “Damn You Wired!” putting price tags on organs makes the market look very regular and stable–and much to […]