Published 21 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4325
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4325

News

Global agreement needed to prevent trafficking in organs, says UN and Council of Europe

John Zarocostas

1 Geneva

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A global convention is needed to prevent the growing problem of trafficking in organs, tissues, and cells to protect victims and prosecute criminal offenders, says a joint report by the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

Such an accord is necessary "not to jeopardise the donation system based on altruism, both from living and from deceased donors, which must be the basis of the organ transplantation system," it says.

Trafficking in organs, tissues, and cells is responsible for massive violations of human rights and exploitation of vulnerable people, the report says. Trafficking undermines public trust in the official transplant system, which has developed into a well established clinical therapy that saves the lives, and improves the quality of life, of thousands of patients worldwide every year.

The report says that there are possibly many unreported cases of the two crimes because of the "huge profits and low risks for . . . [Full text of this article]


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