Poor people selling their organs......sometimes by force :s
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1912880,00.html?xid=rss-healthOn July 23, a lengthy FBI probe into corruption in New Jersey ended in the arrests of 44 people, including two mayors, a prominent real-estate developer and several rabbis. But amid the bribery and money-laundering allegations, the element of the sweeping sting that grabbed the most attention was the accusation that Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, a New York City resident, had tried to orchestrate the sale of a human kidney for $160,000. The black-market kidney trade is a growing problem — the World Health Organization estimates that organ-trafficking accounts for 5% to 10% of all kidney transplants worldwide. So how do kidney sales work?
The organ market is largely made up of impoverished and desperate sellers, wealthy, ailing customers and predatory middlemen. Most sales take place in developing countries, where a kidney can often be purchased for the price of a high-end TV. In Iran — the only country in the world where organ sales are legal — a healthy kidney retails for about $6,000. The going rate is less than half that amount in India, which has an abundance of doctors capable of performing the procedure and destitute masses often unable to raise cash any other way. In January 2008, police busted an organ racket outside New Delhi that allegedly conned or forced poor laborers to relinquish their kidneys to wealthy clients. Investigators say the ring operated for years and included a doctor, Amit Kumar, who would use scouts to spot potential marks. Another kidney ring flourished in South Africa from 2001 to 2003, and black markets thrive in nations like China, Pakistan and the Philippines.