Professor speaks about illegal selling of organs

[okarol]

Professor speaks about illegal selling of organs
By Ian Johnson

In a country stricken by poverty, people sell their own organs just to get by.

It might sound like a dramatization, but the topics discussed in Monir Moniruzzaman’s lecture “Living Cadavers: The Ethics of Human Organ Commodification” are all true.

Moniruzzaman, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, presented his lecture Wednesday afternoon in Fee Hall examining the black market for organ donations that emerged in Bangladesh.

In one of the poorest countries in the world — where 78 percent of the people make less than $2 a day — an illegal market has been established to buy, sell and broker the sale of organs, Moniruzzaman said.

“The body is becoming a commodity,” he said.

Organ trade has been illegal since 1999, but many poor people in the country still participate in the trade and claim that organs are legal donations, Moniruzzaman said.

Sellers, buyers and brokers often make deals by advertising through Bengalese newspapers under the guise of a donation.

To pull off the act, many forge passports and documents to make them appear related to the person they are donating to, even though they are being compensated for body parts such as their kidney, liver or cornea, he said. The average price for a kidney is $1,500, he said.

“We have to stop this trade so that they can keep their body parts intact,” he said. “Yes, we cannot resolve the poverty, but we cannot create a situation where they’re entrapped and hooked and then they are selling their bodies.”

Since the process is completely illegal, it leaves sellers open to be exploited, Moniruzzaman said. Donors are often paid far less than promised, if they even are paid at all, he said.

Anthropology junior Emily McBride said it’s shocking that people consider selling their organs to get a little money.

“The chances are they’re not going have that big of a financial gain or there’s going to be hell to pay to get your money and there’s no guarantee that you will get it,” McBride said.

Communication junior Ashleigh Fagan said although it’s ethically questionable, organ sale should be legalized and regulated to protect the donors.

“I understand it on a basic level and I see why they would do it, but I don’t think it’s fair to them,” Fagan said. “I know it’s going to happen either way. If it were legalized and there were rules and things you had to go through … maybe they wouldn’t get shafted so bad when it comes to money.”

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