Distribution > Human Life?

[Skidoo]

There is just such a widespread illicit market in automobiles: Mercedes, to be exact. But, again, the comparison is inexact.

A stolen organ is not a knockoff etc. of a legitimate item. Once the illegitimately obtained organ is introduced into the supply chain, it is indistinguishable.

It would be like two types of wheat differentiable only on the basis of their sources. That's a distinction without a difference. Dealing in unlawfully obtained organs could become a more profitable business model than that of lawful organs, depending on the means used for acquiring each and the easy with which the bad guys can slip their organs into the legitimate marketplace.

[Mickey Brausch]

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I think a point that is being missed (and please excuse me if it wasnt, I've only skimmed) is the "human dignity question".

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To me there is something downright appalling about the fact that people would ever feel the need to have to donate an organ in order to better their lives.
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You can dress it up all you like but at the end of the day, this is something that will disproportionately affect the poor. As society and economy continue to prosper, this eventuality becomes less acceptable to me. I realize the "human dignity question" is a bit nebulous, but it's wrestling with these types of questions that makes us human.

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That unmistakable low flying roaring sound...

Can only be another vulturesrow rust blastin' pass.

[AWoodside]

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There is just such a widespread illicit market in automobiles: Mercedes, to be exact. But, again, the comparison is inexact.

A stolen organ is not a knockoff etc. of a legitimate item. Once the illegitimately obtained organ is introduced into the supply chain, it is indistinguishable.

It would be like two types of wheat differentiable only on the basis of their sources. That's a distinction without a difference. Dealing in unlawfully obtained organs could become a more profitable business model than that of lawful organs, depending on the means used for acquiring each and the easy with which the bad guys can slip their organs into the legitimate marketplace.

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This is a good point. If only organs had some sort of "tag" on them we could rely on the market to resolve this issue. It would be great if there was something inherently unique about each living organism, that somehow we were able to test for, because then it would be almost trivial to come up with testing and indexing procedures that would make it obvious if a given organ were illegitimate. Oh well, I guess we don't live in a perfect world.

[Skidoo]

Unfortunately, the issue wouldn't be resolved just by making each organ uniquely identifiable.

The basic problem is that there is no way to tell a legitimately donated organ from a stolen one once the (attributed) "donor" is no longer available to make the distinction.