Parts from a single body could fetch up to $150,000

[Thom Little]

The market in body tissue in the US is believed to be worth more than $500 million (£288 million) a year.

While most people know about organ transplants, tissue is now much more widely used. Transplanted organs are governed by well-established laws. There is little evidence — in the developed world, at least — of trading in such organs. But the same does not necessarily apply to body parts that can be recovered from mortuaries, or from bodies donated for research.

Bones can be used in fracture repair, skin can aid wound healing, and heart valves can be used in other patients. Tendons and ligaments may be used to treat sports injuries, long bones to replace those damaged by cancer, shaped-bone products for spinal surgery, and ground bone in dental surgery. Collagen can be used to plump up lips. Bodies, or parts of bodies, can be used in crash tests, or in demonstrations of new techniques for surgeons.

Heart valves are said to fetch up to $7,000 each in the US, and skin $1,000 per square foot. A body could be worth about $150,000, according to Art Caplan, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1957697,00.html