CORRUPTION

International Affairs Forum Fall 2016
Interview with Professor Susanne Lundin
Lund University
As an expert on organ trafficking, could you
evaluate the scale to which it is a global
issue?
Background. Worldwide, transplantations should
be altruistic donations. Commercial transactions
are not allowed: The organ should be a gift. One
exception is Iran. Since 1988, Iran has operated
the only government-sponsored paid living donor
(LD) kidney transplant program.
Transplants from deceased donors involve
solid organs, including the heart, lungs, liver,
kidney, and pancreas. It is also possible to
receive transplants from living individuals: A
living person can donate a single kidney or a
piece of his or her liver. Most living transplants
involve the kidney, since a human being has two
kidneys and is able to live with only one. In many
countries worldwide, the demand for organs from
both deceased and living donors far outstrips
the supply. This can be caused by many things,
including poor dissemination of information to
citizens regarding transplantation and donation,
poor organization in healthcare, and political
and cultural reasons. The latter may be due to
the fact that in many countries donation from the
deceased, normally the largest donation group,
does not exist because of cultural and religious
reasons.
While the increased availability of organs
resulting from living donation is beneficial,
the possible subsequent trade of organs is
disadvantageous. Another double-edged benefit
is the immunosuppressant drug, Cyclosporine,
which was introduced in the early 1980s. Until
then, a problem in transplantation medicine was
that the body often rejected foreign body parts,
a process that changed dramatically with the
help of immunosuppressant drugs and meant
that the recipients of organs had significantly
better chances of keeping an organ than before.
However, this also meant that there were more
opportunities to use organs from people whose
blood type did not necessarily match that of the
sick recipient. This was and is one of various
important factors that facilitate trade in organs
and make it easy for individuals to become
victims of coercion.
Illegal trade. There are numerous cases where
the so-called “informed consent” document,
necessary for all transplantations, lures
disadvantaged people into a commercial
transaction in which they usually get only an
insignificant amount of money, or nothing at all.
Poor and vulnerable people can become victims
of wealthy patients who require organs to stay
alive. The exploitation and vulnerability of the
organ suppliers are manifested by the fact that
they receive little or no payment at all. Organ
selling does not lead to long-term economic
benefits since selling a kidney is associated with
a decline in health status and a diminished ability
to return to labor-intensive work. In fact, selling a
kidney may worsen the seller’s economic status.
Buyers. They pay between US$100,000 and
US$250,000 for a kidney.
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