Persuasive Essay On Organ Trafficking

The demand for organs is at an all time high in our modern world of medicine right now, with over 120,000 Americans waitlisted for an organ and a total of 28,954 who have actually received an organ. Only 14,257 others truly had donated and the other half of organ transplants were done with illegally obtained organs. While it’s illegal almost everywhere, there is no doubt that there is a thriving global market of organ trafficking happening in the world today. Business is booming in the organ black market and according to a report by Global Financial Integrity, it is generating an estimated $50 billion annually worldwide. I think it is time to make organ trafficking legal because with that kind of money being brought in we can help build and

better our economy, we can lessen the crime rate caused from illegally trafficking organs, and most importantly we can save lives.
I know to most people the idea of legalizing organ trafficking may sound horrific and ghastly, but it really shouldn’t. If people would just take the time to do some research and understand what this actually means and what a difference it could make in this world, especially since it would end violence and save more lives, then maybe they wouldn’t be so against the idea. According to theatlantic.com, in Iran, selling one’s kidney for profit is legal. There are no patients anguishing on the waiting list, the Iranians have solved their kidney shortage by legalizing sales. So far the program has been a success. Currently, Iran has no renal transplant waiting lists, and more than 50 percent of patients with ESRD (end-stage kidney disease) in the country are living with a functioning graft, Dr. Ahad J. Ghods said in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephtology.
By legalizing the human organ trade, Iran is able to regulate the industry and make it safe. Certified doctors can perform the operations, and with government support, charity organizations make compatibility matches. The creation of a legitimate industry also has the potential to add legitimate jobs. Donors in Iran make an average of $1,200 and get temporary health insurance from the government, according to The Wall Street Journal. Looking at all the success Iran has had by making organ trafficking legal just astonishes me, this amount of success could be happening everywhere and could truly benefit us in many various ways including economically and financially. Kidneys go for as much as $262,000 in the U.S, livers $157,000, and even gallbladders will go for as much as $1,219. People can make some real money by selling an organ to those in dire need and the financial world we live in today, we could all use some extra income. By making this legal, we can benefit those in need of their life being saved, and those in need of financial stability.
So why are organ sells illegal?

There are donors of blood, semen, and eggs, and even volunteers for medical trials who are often compensated, why not apply the same principle to organs? The amount of crime happening all around the world today by illegal organ trafficking is horrific and inhumane and I think that legalizing it would lessen the statistics and maybe even stop the violence. One case study on aljazeera.com shows a couple travelling through Mexico and being kidnapped by a criminal gang. "He was travelling with his wife and they took both of them," Medina told Al Jazeera during an interview in Mexico. "They put them in separate rooms. He heard his wife screaming. After he went in and saw her on a table with her chest wide open and without her heart or kidney." Many cases on news.upickreviews.com include horrifying stories such as human trafficking and organ harvesting in Kosovo. In 1999 after the Kosovo war, new evidence claims that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) abducted 400 Kosovo residents, mostly Serbs, and illegally harvested their organs before killed them. In Moldova, many innocent people have been drugged and woke up in a bathtub full of ice with their kidneys removed. These acts of violence and viciousness will continue on if we do not make a change. If we make organ trafficking legal, we could keep people from being abducted and tortured, we could save hundreds of thousands of innocent and struggling lives all around the

world.
Saving innocent lives is the most important goal. Children are being kidnapped and their eyeballs are being gouged out while they are left there alone, confused and in pain, young adults are being captured and their kidneys and hearts are being stolen, these things are far from okay and need to be stopped right now. Even today, doctors sometimes legally harvest organ tissue from dead patients without their consent. Meanwhile, thousands are perishing and even more are suffering while we wait for the system to change. According to theatlantic.com, several years ago, transplant surgeon Nadley Hakim at St. Mary's Hospital in London pointed out that "this trade is going on anyway, why not have a controlled trade where if someone wants to donate a kidney for a particular price, that would be acceptable? If it is done safely, the donor will not suffer." Many people seem to agree with me and understand the basic concepts of how simple and safe and much healthier this whole thing could be.
Many people will argue that an organ market will only be beneficial to the wealthy and lead to an unfair advantage for the rich and powerful while putting pressures on the poor to endanger their own life and that even selling a kidney will not help the poor pay the bills. Such an unequal distribution of financial and health benefits would be unjust. But these are the characteristics of the current illegal organ trade. I think if we made trafficking of organs legal, we could get some pretty decent and fair prices for all people in need of the transplant and not only the wealthy and powerful would get all the benefits, but everyone involved would too.
The future of organ transplants is looking up as well; with all the modern day medicine and technology it won’t be long before surgeons routinely install replacement body parts created in the laboratory and will not need people to donate or sell theirs. Doctors and patients are optimistic and anything is possible. But until that day comes, making organ trafficking legal is the best way to go financially, economically, beneficially, and most importantly, we can save the lives of many people all around the world.