Call For Organ Trafficking Ban

6Jul2008Filed under: ArticlesAuthor: Admin

Interesting article that we fully subscribe to. The medical tourism ethics of worldmedassist (www.worldmedassist.com) go much further than this declaration, but this is a step in the right direction. 

Experts from 78 countries around the world have signed a declaration calling for a total ban on organ trafficking and transplant tourism.

The 152 transplant specialists, including representatives from the UK, US, France, India and China, agreed on the proposal at a summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

Although the Istanbul Declaration has no legal authority, it is expected to be highly influential.

Shady deals mainly involving the sale of kidneys are believed to be soaring in number because of an international shortage of suitable transplant organs.

Organ trafficking is said to account for around 10% of the nearly 70,000 kidney transplants performed worldwide each year. Some estimates put the annual number of trafficked kidneys as high as 15,000.

China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Brazil, the Philippines, Moldova, and Romania are among the world’s leading providers of trafficked organs. All apart from Romania had participants at the Istanbul summit.

Like drug trafficking, the trade involves exploitation and big money. Organ brokers reportedly charge between

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