UCLA medical school director trades in human flesh: organ donors' bodies sold on black market for personal profit

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that an official with UCLA's medical school has been privately selling cadavers that were willed to the medical school. The individual -- who was also the director of the "willed body program" -- made more than $700,000 selling these bodies to medical research companies. In other words, people who thought they were donating their bodies to science were apparently enriching the pockets of a twisted individual who resold the bodies for his own person profit.

As bizarre as this story seems, it's only one report in a sea of similar stories from the lucrative body parts industry. In a previous article, I described how other cadavers from people who thought they were "donating their bodies for science" were actually sold to the military for -- get this -- testing landmines. I know this all sounds bizarre, almost tabloid, but in fact, it's right from the the LA Times and other press sources.

There's a bigger story to all this: as people graciously donate their bodies, their organs and their blood to a variety of organizations out of a desire to help fellow human beings, there's actually a hidden, lucrative underground market flourishing in the buying and selling of body parts. The donor who gave up their own body in an act of kindness ends up having their body sent to the medical equivalent of an auto theft "chop shop" where it is parted out to the highest bidder. And there's an enormous amount of money generated from donated organs, too. The hospital removing the organ is paid a fee, the transportation company that brings the chilled organs to the intended recipient makes a bundle, and of course the surgeons, doctors and hospitals actually performing the organ transplant make a small fortune. In all, one donated organ (such as a human liver) might generate well over $100,000 in revenues for everyone involved... that is, everyone except the donor.

The donor gets nothing. They're dead, so they might not mind, but what about their families? Shouldn't the families of organ donors receive some portion of the revenues generated from their loved one's death? Why should doctors, hospitals and organ trading companies reap a fortune from a person's death while the family suffering the most gets absolutely nothing in return?

It's the dirty little secret of the organ donation industry: everybody makes a bundle, but the original donor gets absolutely nothing. The same is true when you donate blood: you give your blood for free, then the blood bank turns around and charges $100 / pint to give it to someone else. There's something wrong with this picture. Somehow, the blood banks and organ donor organizations have managed to keep all this secret while exploiting the national press to urge people to come back and keep donating. What a great business concept: people come in and give you product for free, then you turn around the sell it for almost any price you might ask. That's how some organ donor programs and blood banks operate. It's a business: and the price list features human flesh.

This is why I strongly urge people to avoid donating blood and to never participate in organ donor programs, which are usually pushed onto people at the local DMV. The industry is a racket, and if you donate your blood, organs or entire body to "science," you actually have no way to know how it's going to end up being used. Your dead body might be blasted to bits by the military, or it might be sold by someone on the black market for who knows what. And if you donate organs, you can rest in peace knowing that you've generated another hundred thousand dollars (or more) for a long list of surgeons and hospitals who see your organs as nothing other than a financial windfall. But what about the whole idea of "saving lives?" That's the guilt trip played up by the organ donor industry to keep the product supply flowing. If it were really about saving lives, as the industry claims, then why don't they give the organs to the transplant patients for free? Now there's a question for thought. If it's all about saving the patient, and if they got the liver for free, then shouldn't they give it to the patient for free?

Now, I'd be happy to participate in an organ donor program if I knew that the patient was not going to be charged for the transplant. I'd be happy to give blood if that blood were, in turn, given freely to patients who needed it. But I'm not going to give up my blood and body parts to a corrupt industry that sees my sacred gift as nothing more than a profit generator. That's downright evil, and I feel that as a human being, I have an ethical responsibility to make sure I don't participate in today's organ donation racket.

What do you think about all this? Do you think the family of the accident victim donating organs should receive a share of the revenues generated by that organ? Should blood banks share a portion of the blood revenues with the donors? Should the whole industry receive a little extra scrutiny from now on? And does all this change your mind about donating your body to so-called "science?" These are serious issues. Give them some consideration... and then go change your driver's license.

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About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher and author with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. He has created over 100 CounterThink cartoons and produced several popular hip-hop songs on socially-conscious topics. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and adult gymnastics.