The business of recycling dead humans into medical devices is a lucrative trade, but how does the industry source its raw materials?
Read the full report on ICIJ’s website.
A team of reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) spent eight months, across 11 countries, exploring the little-known trade in medical implants made from cadavers.
ICIJ found the business of recycling dead humans has grown so large over the past decade that one can buy stock in publicly traded companies that rely on corpses for their raw materials.
Skin and bones donated by relatives of the dead are turned into many items that are used routinely in certain kinds of hospital operations, in dentistry and plastic surgery.
Distributors of the merchandise can be found all over the world. Some are subsidiaries of billion-dollar, multinational medical corporations.
Patients aren’t always told that the product they are getting originated from a corpse, which leads to an even more complex issue – how does the industry source the raw material it uses for its products?
Distributors of the merchandise can be found in the European Union, China, Canada, Thailand, India, South Africa, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.
Read the full report on ICIJ’s website.
