Organ Trafficking

According to a 2007 special report by Reuters, a shortage of donated organs in rich countries had given rise “to organ trafficking and a black market for rich people and ‘transplant tourists’ who travel to poor countries to buy body parts from people with a few other routes to a better living.”
Among the countries cited were China, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Colombia and the Philippines.
In a government-hosted forum held on March 31, 2008, the nonprofit Asia Against Child Trafficking (AsiaACT) issued the grim finding that Filipinos were considered among the sources of the cheapest kidneys, with local kidney sellers getting $1,500, or 20 times lower than what sellers in the United States were getting.
According to AsiaACT, kidney sellers get a minimum of $30,000 in the United States, while sellers get as much as $20,000 in Israel, $7,500 in Turkey, $6,000 in Brazil, and $2,700 in Moldova and Romania.
Clusters of 100 donors
In the same forum, the Philippine Society of Nephrology also reported finding “clusters” of more than 100 donors in Quezon province, mostly farmers and tricycle drivers, who sold their kidneys for about P112,000.
When polled, 73 percent of these donors admitted that selling their kidneys failed to improve their lives financially, while 79 percent said their health eventually suffered and affected their work.
The Philippines had actually enacted a law against human organ trafficking five years prior to these findings. In 2003, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
Implementing rules
A section of the law prohibits the recruitment or abduction of people for the purpose of removal or sale of organs. However, this was not fully implemented for years due to lack of implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
A forum on the proposed IRR for Organ Trafficking was held in Manila on Oct. 17, 2008, which then Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said would “address the apparent gaps in the law and existing policies on the ‘donation’ of organs by a living non-related donor.”
The IRR finally took effect on June 21, 2009. The IRR categorically prohibits the buying and selling of human organs. Violators face up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to P2 million.

David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer

Posted in: Organ Trafficking