From the AP (via the San Francisco Chronicle):
U.N. investigators found no substantial evidence to support claims that ethnic Albanian guerrillas killed dozens of Serbs in Kosovo and sold their organs, a court spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Investigators visited northern Albania after U.N. officials in Kosovo passed on allegations of organ trafficking to the International Criminal Tribunal for [...]
Filipinos who sell their kidneys on the black market are getting paid the lowest amount in the world, according to a new report.
From the Inquirer:
“The living non-related donors that donate their kidneys to foreigners and rich Filipinos are the poor, vulnerable and the marginalized … and we have the mandate to protect them,” said Cabral.Abueva [...]
A top expert on Organ Trafficking stated that the world’s top transplant surgeons are involved in organ trafficking.
From the Associated Press:
Top transplant surgeons are collaborating with criminal organ trafficking networks to target the desperate, an expert said Thursday.
“It involves people from the highest level of their profession,” said Nancy Scheper-Hughes, founding director of Organs [...]
An organ trafficking network that is believed to have transplanted between 400 to 500 kidneys over 9 years was recently broken up by authorities in India.
From the International Herald Tribune:
As the anesthetic wore off, Naseem Mohammed felt an acute pain somewhere in the lower left part of his abdomen. Fighting off drowsiness, he fumbled [...]
Reuters reports on the organ trafficking market in the Philippines.
The Department of Health said the cost of a kidney in the country was estimated at 150,000 pesos ($3,600), with the donor getting only a third of the amount while two-thirds went to middlemen.
Several Web sites offer all-inclusive “transplant packages”, ranging from $70,000 to $160,000, [...]
Two men in Israel were sentenced yesterday for trafficking humans for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs. In the indictment, kidneys were harvested at prices between $125,000 to $135,000. Like other activities of the black market, service providers are able to manipulate and control the consumers because of the lack of government oversight and legal [...]
The Wall Street Journal has an article on the issues surrounding kidney transplant and the possibility of creating a regulated kidney market.
At the core of the kidney-sale debate are complex issues surrounding transplantation. Given the imbalance of supply and demand, physicians and policy makers are forced to ration what’s available while considering more radical ideas [...]
Officials in China have agreed to end the practice of taking prisoners’ organs.
From the AP:
Chinese medical officials agreed Friday not to transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families. if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['FSmmg9GDJHE-']=’&U=13b4am96d%2fN%3dFSmmg9GDJHE-%2fC%3d619213.11492542.12049046.1414694%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4940782′;
The agreement was reached at a meeting of the World Medical [...]
According to information by Reuters and the World Health Organization, these are the top five countries where organ trafficking is prevalent.
China
Pakistan
Egypt
Colombia
Philippines
An estimated 10 percent of the world’s transplanted kidneys are believed to involved donors who receive financial compensation for their organs. According to our research, we estimated that at least $50 million dollars is spent [...]
