https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/10019321--it-s-not-going-away-human-trafficking-in-halton-increasing-with-hot-spots-in-oakville-and-burlington/
Organ Trafficking Cheryl Chang Professional Opinion In my professional opinion, the government could create an incentive to encourage people to donate their healthy organs. Also, the government could introduce an anonymous reporting policy to report patients who have received organs from unknown sources, and then the police could trace those sources. Keeping people informed is very important in preventing and keeping individuals out of organ trafficking.
Understanding the Issue The high demand of organ transplants and the long waitlists drive a lot of people to take part in organ trafficking and transplant tourism. Organ trafficking is the practice of stealing or buying organs through exploitation to be sold on a black market for profit. Transplant tourism is the act of traveling to a foreign country for the purpose of buying, selling, or receiving organs. Traffickers tell their victims they will receive a large sum of money and will often convince a person that the organ is not needed.
Global Implications
References 1. Gonzalez J, Garijo I, Sanchez A. Organ trafficking and migration: A bibliometric analysis of an untold story. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):3204.
2. Jafar TH. Organ trafficking: global solutions for a global problem. Am J Kidney Dis. 2009;54(6):1145-1157 3. Meshelemiah, J. and Lynch, R., 2021. Chapter 9: Organ Trafficking. [online] Ohiostate.pressbooks.pub. Available at: <https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/ humantrafficking/chapter/chapter9-organtrafficking/#:~:text=Organ%20trafficking% 20is%20the%20practice,%2C%202 011%3B%20United%20Nations%2C %202018> [Accessed 15 February 2021].
https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/humantrafficking/chapter/chapter-9-
https://www.invivomagazine.com/en/focus/dossier/article/412/the-fight-against-
Who Does it Affect? Organ trafficking leads to not only organ harvesting from donors but from unwilling innocent people, such as homeless, indebted, and refugee people. Victims of organ trafficking are mostly the poor, vulnerable populations.
It is estimated that 10% of the organ transplants done globally are completed using black market organs. Organ trafficking is a global business where organs are bought from the poor and sold to the rich. China is one of the countries that is extremely well-known for organ trafficking after executing prisoners to illegally harvest their organs against their will. The internet is a useful tool traffickers use to lure their victims, especially victims that are across borders.
Efforts and Solutions In order to solve the problem, the government should: develop better systems of deceased organ donation, encourage altruistic living kidney donation, prevent needs for transplantation by treating diseases that lead to organ failure such as diabetes and hepatitis, and implementing laws that prohibit organ trading and trafficking. Also, the victims who come forward need to be treated as victims, not as criminals. This would help bring more traffickers to justice.
