Organ Trafficking

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I have a healthy heart that has a steady beat of 74 beats per minute with two functioning kidneys. I have twelve pints of blood circulating throughout my veins and arteries. I have a thick brown hair and a full set of orthodontic perfected teeth. I have an operating liver along with a spleen filtering out my old red blood cells and producing antibodies. I am American and have white skin, with A positive blood. In total, I'm worth about $300,000 on the organ market. The organ trade is one of the fastest growing and least enforced trafficking crimes throughout the globe today (Glazer 341). Sarah Glazer claims in "Organ Trafficking" that 5,000 to 10,000 of the 100,000 transplanted organs are obtained illegally each year (341). Although the laws passed and organizations founded have delayed the escalation of organ trafficking, the selling and distribution of compensated organs should remain illegal and suppressed beyond the efforts gave today in order to stop the exploitation of the poor and put an end to forced organ harvesting. United Nations Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNIFT) claims there are two major groupings of organ trafficking. The first occurs where organs are taken by force, and the second arises when donors volunteer their organ for compensation (Trafficking). Most illegal organs come from the poor classes in developing countries. Glazer reports that Nicaragua, Pakistan, India, Egypt, and China are the central countries that wealthy people from around the globe go to purchase an organ for a cheap price. These affluent recipients commonly are from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the Persian Gulf Nations (343). Various laws and bills have been written regarding the organ trade, but have yet to acc... ... middle of paper ... ... "The Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism." Kidney International 74.7 (2008): 854-859. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Saberi, Debra Budiani, and Deborah M. Golden. "The Sale of Human Organs Unethical." Is Selling Body Parts Ethical? Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "Advancing Organ Donation Without Commercialization: Maintaining the Integrity of the National Organ Transplant Act." 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. "Trafficking for Organ Trade." United Nations Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. UNODC, 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Trey, Torsten, Arthur L. Caplan, and Jacob Lavee. "Transplant Ethics Under Scrutiny-- Responsibilities of All Medical Professionals." Croatian Medical Journal 54.1 (2013): 71-74. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

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