Invasion of the body snatchers

Medical research on cadavers and the need for replacement body parts in medical procedures has been fueling a grim trade in death in recent months. Organs, bone implants, and other body tissues are being sold on the black market by medics, undertakers, and others with whom we trust with our deceased loved ones. A fully processed cadaver can fetch up to $250,000. With that amount of money at stake, how hard will financially strapped medical professionals work to save our lives? And with these black market body parts entering the system, how can we trust any body tissues to be transplant quality and disease-free?

The emergence of such a gruesome underground trade network is due in part because of the nearly equally frightening costs of keeping body parts alive in the first place. An innovative new way to put the lid on soaring health care expenses has been suggested by a member of a leading government advisory panel, SIGMA. At a U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security conference in March, SIGMA panel member Larry Niven suggested a novel solution to be undertaken by the country’s bankrupt hospitals. A good way to stem financial losses, he says, is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients to harvest organs for transplants. “The problem of hospitals going broke is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren’t going to pay for anything anyway,” said Niven, who is also known for his science writing.

He also said that while this solution is guaranteed to work, the government may not be able to use it. Unfortunately, the fringe members of our society are not only ready and willing to employ such tactics, and are not even above the harvesting of organs from living bodies. A video which can now be found on Youtube shows the organ thieves luring an animal away from its habitat and stealing its kidney to sell it for profit on the black market. This creates an even greater public health threat, as diseases that previously haven’t been seen in humans may cross over to the human population if animal organs are unknowingly used in transplants.

Worse still, animal advocacy militants such as PETA, which is worried about “humanized” animals being raised for organ harvesting, would make life miserable for the rest of us. It’s hard to know what’s right anymore.

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