A byproduct of contributing written content is analyzing the metrics that come with it. Part of what we do is research trending topics and existing content in an effort to figure out and write about stuff that you’re interested in.

In doing so, I came across a disturbing piece of content that keeps popping up on my trending report that has me a little worried.

This random and disturbing topic keeps popping up

A few years ago, I found a random, itemized list of how much body parts are worth on the black market. Since we often get accused of writing dumb stuff on what you would call a ‘slow news day’, I decided to live up to the accusations and share the information I found.

There’s really not much to the story other than the going rates for different body parts at the time, and perhaps a laughable but true notion that most of us are worth more dead than alive. If you're interested, here's a link back to the story that people in Idaho are looking at.

Why are folks in Idaho looking for this?

The crazy and disturbing thing is that people all over Idaho are searching for and reading this content. Does this mean people are just morbidly curious like I was when I first came across the data, or are you actually searching for the going rate of a kidney on the black market? I hope that it’s the former. 

Why you cannot legally sell body parts in the US

To be clear, it is not legal to sell body parts for transplant in the United States. The primary reason why the United States Congress created laws that ban the sale of body parts for transplant is so that the 'wealthy do not have an unfair advantage for obtaining donated organs and tissues' - donoralliance.org

While there are arguments being made that incentivizing organ donation would likely help contend with a shortage of body parts for transplant, Iran is the only country that offers a legal compensatory organ donation system. 

Why a black market for body parts even exists in the first place

The answer is pretty simple. There are more people in need of organ donation than there are organs being donated. It's sad to say that about 22 people a day, or 8,000 people a year die on a waiting list for donated organs.

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