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The Red Market: On the Trail of the World's Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers
An in-depth report that takes readers on a shocking tour through a macabre global underworld where organs, bones, and live people are bought and sold on the red market
Investigative journalist Scott Carney has spent five years on the ground tracing the lucrative and deeply secretive trade in human bodies and body parts—a vast hidden economy known as the "red market." From the horrifying to the ridiculous, he discovers its varied forms: an Indian village nicknamed "Kidneyvakkam" because most of its residents have sold their kidneys for cash; unscrupulous grave robbers who steal human bones from cemeteries, morgues, and funeral pyres for anatomical skeletons used in Western medical schools and labs; an ancient temple that makes money selling the hair of its devotees to wig makers in America—to the tune of $6 million annually.
The Red Market reveals the rise, fall, and resurgence of this multibillion-dollar underground trade through history, from early medical study and modern universities to poverty-ravaged Eurasian villages and high-tech Western labs; from body snatchers and surrogate mothers to skeleton dealers and the poor who sell body parts to survive. While local and international law enforcement have cracked down on the market, advances in science have increased the demand for human tissue—ligaments, kidneys, even rented space in women's wombs—leaving little room to consider the ethical dilemmas inherent in the flesh-and-blood trade. At turns tragic, voyeuristic, and thought-provoking, The Red Market is an eye-opening, surreal look at a little-known global industry and its implications for all our lives.
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
318 people are currently reading
8277 people want to read
About the author
Scott Carney
19 books384 followersScott Carney is an investigative journalist and anthropologist whose stories blend narrative non-fiction with ethnography. He has been a contributing editor at Wired and his work also appears in Mother Jones, Foreign Policy, Playboy, Details, Discover, Outside, and Fast Company. He regularly appears on variety of radio and television stations from NPR to National Geographic TV. In 2010 he won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for the story “Meet the Parents” which tracked an international kidnapping-to-adoption ring . His first book, “The Red Market: On the Trail of the World’s Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers and Child Traffickers” was published by William Morrow in 2011 and won the 2012 Clarion Award for best non-fiction book. He first traveled to India while he was a student at Kenyon College in 1998 and over the course of several years inside and outside the classroom he learned Hindi. In 2004 he received a MA in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. All told, he has spent more than half a decade in South Asia. He lives in Long Beach, CA.
Source: http://www.scottcarney.com/
Source: http://www.scottcarney.com/
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October 13, 2022
How can I sell thee? Let me count the ways. Actually, I don’t need to. In The Red Market investigative journalist Scott Carney seems to have taken care of that. He covers the wealth of ways in which business people in the people business sell parts of people to other people. He covers the selling of bones, kidneys, human ova, personal gestation services, blood, and more. Geographically, most of Carney’s work is in India, where he lived for several years, but he forays out to Cyprus, Spain and the USA for personal investigations.
Scott Carney - image from Living Beyond Your Fears
The impact of what he reveals here is global. It appears that the West (primarily) has found new sources of third-world raw materials to exploit. And as with prior versions of such practices, the locals do not fare very well from the transaction. In addition, it appears that third-worlders are being employed to do some work that gives the term “labor-saving” new weight. Carney’s focus is on the supply side of the equation, in particular its impact on the suppliers in this international meat market.
The material here is the stuff of horror films, reminiscent at times of the X-files or Sweeney Todd, although the consumption involved is not savory. Carney was teaching in India when a young woman in his program died. It was through his experience seeing that her remains were returned to the USA that he became aware of the way that once a person has passed on, pressure builds for their remains to be passed along.
He begins by digging into the business of grave-robbing in India, an enterprise that has supplied high-quality, sparkling product, intended largely for Western medical training.
One of the unanticipated aftermaths of the great tsunami of 2004 was the creation, via a large population of displaced and impoverished people, of a ready source of kidneys. Desperate people sell one of their two kidneys in order to get enough cash to keep their families going just a little longer. On the grounds of a dairy farm shanghaied transients are hooked up to tubes and their blood is siphoned off multiple times a week until they are near death. When their utility as milk-able blood-cows is about to expire they are put on a bus and sent out of town for someone else to deal with. Corneas are taken from barely living or just killed prisoners in Chinese prisons. In Cyprus, mostly Eastern-European women are given large doses of hormones to encourage the production of multiple ova, which are then implanted in Western customers. In India, women serving as surrogates live for months under conditions of virtual imprisonment until their product is C-Sectioned out of them. Carney paints a bleak picture. The only part of the Red Market that seems to work well is the donation and marketing of human hair.
Brokers for blood products, particularly, reminded me of how Wall Street fused hordes of junk financial products into one gigantic stinking pile of finance and sold it in a way that no buyer could discern the actual source of the underlying stench. When it comes to blood there are major brokers who collect blood from sources as solid as 9.5% APR mortgages. The quality of that blood is, to be generous, not reliable.
In addition to the reality on the ground, Carney looks at underlying issues, the role of anonymity in organ donation, the relationship between the free market and voluntarism, how changes in law affect such trade. He looks at the likelihood that new scientific developments might mitigate worldwide demand and examines the nature of fluctuating demand. Carney points out the very definite class difference in who benefits the most from this trade
Sometimes Carney shows a bit of naiveté, such as in the following
The grainy black-and-white images that appear throughout the book seem well-suited to the material. Carney writes in a first person voice that gives the reader a you-are-there feel. He is very readable, and that eases the discomfort of absorbing his subject matter.
In The Red Market, Scott Carney has done an outstanding job of shining a bright light into one of the darker dungeons of human commerce. While I thought that his solutions were a bit fuzzy, the upside here is that The Red Market offers a significant contribution to our base of knowledge about some serious public health, and human rights concerns.
While some parts of the book have been previously published in magazines, (Carney has been writing for many well-known publications for years) this is his first book. It is a stunning debut and promises to be the beginning of a long, productive and valuable career.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Carney’s blog (http://redmarkets.com/) is well worth a look. There is much material there that supplements this book, including links to related articles, as well as material on other projects.
The book itself contains a wonderful bibliography for anyone interested in looking a bit deeper into specific areas.
While reading The Red Market I was reminded of several other books that touched on related subjects.
Little Princes re child-stealing for fun and profit
Larry’s Kidney re traveling abroad to pick up hard-to-find parts and services
Long for This World re our quest for immortality
The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks for the deep respect research science has for test subjects or “donors”
Dirty Pretty Things is the only film addressing issues raised here that popped to mind. But I am sure there are more.
Not a High School Science Project - the ff is quoted from the book
A very nice review by Michiko Kakutani appeared in today's New York Times.
A fascinating article from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist - Human Corpses are Prize in Global Drive for Profits
Scott Carney - image from Living Beyond Your Fears
The impact of what he reveals here is global. It appears that the West (primarily) has found new sources of third-world raw materials to exploit. And as with prior versions of such practices, the locals do not fare very well from the transaction. In addition, it appears that third-worlders are being employed to do some work that gives the term “labor-saving” new weight. Carney’s focus is on the supply side of the equation, in particular its impact on the suppliers in this international meat market.
The material here is the stuff of horror films, reminiscent at times of the X-files or Sweeney Todd, although the consumption involved is not savory. Carney was teaching in India when a young woman in his program died. It was through his experience seeing that her remains were returned to the USA that he became aware of the way that once a person has passed on, pressure builds for their remains to be passed along.
He begins by digging into the business of grave-robbing in India, an enterprise that has supplied high-quality, sparkling product, intended largely for Western medical training.
When the police arrived to investigate in early 2007, they could smell the stench of rotting flesh from nearly a mile away. Sections of spine strung together with twine dangled from the rafters, an officer told me. Hundreds of bones were scattered on the floor in some sort of ordering system.Carney offers a professional’s description of how the preparers transform a body into a sack of bones. (Included at the end of this review, for the ghoulishly curious) He writes, in addition, about the history of grave-robbing, particularly in the West. That is engrossing stuff.
One of the unanticipated aftermaths of the great tsunami of 2004 was the creation, via a large population of displaced and impoverished people, of a ready source of kidneys. Desperate people sell one of their two kidneys in order to get enough cash to keep their families going just a little longer. On the grounds of a dairy farm shanghaied transients are hooked up to tubes and their blood is siphoned off multiple times a week until they are near death. When their utility as milk-able blood-cows is about to expire they are put on a bus and sent out of town for someone else to deal with. Corneas are taken from barely living or just killed prisoners in Chinese prisons. In Cyprus, mostly Eastern-European women are given large doses of hormones to encourage the production of multiple ova, which are then implanted in Western customers. In India, women serving as surrogates live for months under conditions of virtual imprisonment until their product is C-Sectioned out of them. Carney paints a bleak picture. The only part of the Red Market that seems to work well is the donation and marketing of human hair.
Brokers for blood products, particularly, reminded me of how Wall Street fused hordes of junk financial products into one gigantic stinking pile of finance and sold it in a way that no buyer could discern the actual source of the underlying stench. When it comes to blood there are major brokers who collect blood from sources as solid as 9.5% APR mortgages. The quality of that blood is, to be generous, not reliable.
In addition to the reality on the ground, Carney looks at underlying issues, the role of anonymity in organ donation, the relationship between the free market and voluntarism, how changes in law affect such trade. He looks at the likelihood that new scientific developments might mitigate worldwide demand and examines the nature of fluctuating demand. Carney points out the very definite class difference in who benefits the most from this trade
Sometimes Carney shows a bit of naiveté, such as in the following
Obscuring the source of raw materials for any market is almost always a bad idea. We would never allow an oil company to hide the locations of its oil rigs, or not to disclose its environmental policies. And when an oil rig fails and leaks millions of barrels of petroleum into the ocean we demand accountability. Transparency is capitalism’s most basic safety feature.Perhaps he has not noticed that corporations are quite successful at minimizing transparency. In doing this he ignores his own evidence of under-the-table payments to law enforcement personnel in India, a decidedly capitalist nation.
The grainy black-and-white images that appear throughout the book seem well-suited to the material. Carney writes in a first person voice that gives the reader a you-are-there feel. He is very readable, and that eases the discomfort of absorbing his subject matter.
In The Red Market, Scott Carney has done an outstanding job of shining a bright light into one of the darker dungeons of human commerce. While I thought that his solutions were a bit fuzzy, the upside here is that The Red Market offers a significant contribution to our base of knowledge about some serious public health, and human rights concerns.
While some parts of the book have been previously published in magazines, (Carney has been writing for many well-known publications for years) this is his first book. It is a stunning debut and promises to be the beginning of a long, productive and valuable career.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Carney’s blog (http://redmarkets.com/) is well worth a look. There is much material there that supplements this book, including links to related articles, as well as material on other projects.
The book itself contains a wonderful bibliography for anyone interested in looking a bit deeper into specific areas.
While reading The Red Market I was reminded of several other books that touched on related subjects.
Little Princes re child-stealing for fun and profit
Larry’s Kidney re traveling abroad to pick up hard-to-find parts and services
Long for This World re our quest for immortality
The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks for the deep respect research science has for test subjects or “donors”
Dirty Pretty Things is the only film addressing issues raised here that popped to mind. But I am sure there are more.
Not a High School Science Project - the ff is quoted from the book
First the corpses are wrapped in netting and anchored in the river, where bacteria and fish reduce them to loose piles of bones and mush in a week or so. The crew then scrubs them and boils them in a cauldron of water and caustic soda to dissolve any remaining flesh. That leaves the calcium surfaces with a yellow tint. To bring them up to medical white, bones are then left in sunlight for a week before being soaked in hydrochloric acid.This means you, Norm.
A very nice review by Michiko Kakutani appeared in today's New York Times.
A fascinating article from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist - Human Corpses are Prize in Global Drive for Profits
November 7, 2020
I picked up The Red Market because I’ve always been interested in its eponymous subject, and for once I felt like I had the attention span to attempt something a smidge heartier than a Vox video.
This is a medical/true-crime account by investigative journalist Scott Carney, centred mainly on his experiences with folks in India, but also branching out to the fertility clinics of Cyprus and Spain and the domestic spheres of middle-class America. He interviews Chinese political dissidents, Indian politicians, police officers, health practitioners, owners of adoption agencies, and, of course, those who arguably feel the greatest draw toward (and ramifications of) the red market: the people whose organs and bodies form the basis of this enterprise.
What I appreciated above all was this book’s underscoring of the red market’s exploitation and disenfranchisement of the poor and marginalized, who are driven to donate (read: sell) body parts and bodily services out of desperation and because of poverty. The chapter on adoption and child trafficking hit especially hard.
We spend a lot of time (the whole book) meandering in what Carney calls “gray areas of international regulations.”
It’s very informative, though I must admit that sometimes the words and info just refused to stick in my head, and I found some theses/arguments confusing as a result. For example, though this concept was mentioned in the introduction, it took me until much later in the book—the blood donations chapter—to understand why British researcher Richard Titmuss argued that the blood of paid donors was more unsafe (e.g., more likely to carry blood-borne diseases) than blood donated for altruistic reasons. The explanation is:
Very straightforward now, but weirdly opaque for me at the start!
Other readers have commented on the grimness and the gore, but those eldritch elements didn’t so much bother me as fascinate me in a macabre way. I wasn’t, however, a fan of the random and casual use of the word coolie at the beginning, but it only occurred once; the author’s prose is otherwise mostly evocative and digestible, and I could totally see this being made into a documentary, if it hasn’t been already.
Finally, Carney bookends The Red Market with three core ideas for addressing the criminal exploitation that so damages folks caught up in its web:
But wow. Some of the parts of this book—i.e., parts of our reality—felt like the stuff of dismal spec-fic and dystopia, if not straight up nightmares.
This is a medical/true-crime account by investigative journalist Scott Carney, centred mainly on his experiences with folks in India, but also branching out to the fertility clinics of Cyprus and Spain and the domestic spheres of middle-class America. He interviews Chinese political dissidents, Indian politicians, police officers, health practitioners, owners of adoption agencies, and, of course, those who arguably feel the greatest draw toward (and ramifications of) the red market: the people whose organs and bodies form the basis of this enterprise.
What I appreciated above all was this book’s underscoring of the red market’s exploitation and disenfranchisement of the poor and marginalized, who are driven to donate (read: sell) body parts and bodily services out of desperation and because of poverty. The chapter on adoption and child trafficking hit especially hard.
The blood farm [and insert any other branch of the red market] could never have existed without eager buyers who were either incurious about the supply or just didn’t care about the source.
We spend a lot of time (the whole book) meandering in what Carney calls “gray areas of international regulations.”
…like every other market in human tissue, surrogacy blends notions of altruism and humanistic donation with the bottom line of medical profitability.
It’s very informative, though I must admit that sometimes the words and info just refused to stick in my head, and I found some theses/arguments confusing as a result. For example, though this concept was mentioned in the introduction, it took me until much later in the book—the blood donations chapter—to understand why British researcher Richard Titmuss argued that the blood of paid donors was more unsafe (e.g., more likely to carry blood-borne diseases) than blood donated for altruistic reasons. The explanation is:
Driven by monetary incentives, paid donors were not concerned with the safety of their contributions, only the paycheck that came after donating.
Very straightforward now, but weirdly opaque for me at the start!
Other readers have commented on the grimness and the gore, but those eldritch elements didn’t so much bother me as fascinate me in a macabre way. I wasn’t, however, a fan of the random and casual use of the word coolie at the beginning, but it only occurred once; the author’s prose is otherwise mostly evocative and digestible, and I could totally see this being made into a documentary, if it hasn’t been already.
Finally, Carney bookends The Red Market with three core ideas for addressing the criminal exploitation that so damages folks caught up in its web:
1) We need to stop viewing the demand for bodies and human tissue as a fixed issue that can only be answered by increasing the overall supply. Instead, the demand for organs, hair, children, and bones is first and foremost a function of overall (and perceived) supply.
2) ...[A]ltruism is simply not a reliable foundation for collecting and distributing human bodies. At its best it diminishes the incentive for people to supply red markets, and at its worst altruism is a convenient cover story for taking advantage of donors.
3) ...[R]ed markets will flourish as long as legal markets in bodies are not transparent. The condition for any ethical human body or tissue exchange depends on absolute transparency of the supply chain.
But wow. Some of the parts of this book—i.e., parts of our reality—felt like the stuff of dismal spec-fic and dystopia, if not straight up nightmares.
April 12, 2023
I wouldn't call it a fun read, not like Mary Roach's Stiff, but it is significant. Someone has to think about where bodies and their parts come from, and how best to limit coercion. And really, as long as there is money to be made, from selling blood, from international adoption fees, from skeletons to hang in classrooms, from kidney transplants, etc., then there is the possibility of things going very badly wrong. Sunshine, says Carney, and transparency, these are the keys to having a system which functions without abuse. I'm not convinced that they will do anything much without an international effort to respect and defend human rights, but they won't hurt in the meantime.
Updated 12/8/14: China to End Organ Harvesting From Executed Inmates
Library copy.
Updated 12/8/14: China to End Organ Harvesting From Executed Inmates
Library copy.
July 8, 2016
This topic was so grim that I couldn't finish this book. It is well-written and the author traveled around the world to report on this story, so if you are interested in the global sale of human bodies and body parts, you will probably like this book.
First Paragraph
"I weight just a little under two hundred pounds, have brown hair, blue eyes, and a full set of teeth. As far as I know, my thyroid gland pumps the right hormones into the twelve pints of blood that circulate in my arteries and veins. At six feet two inches, I have long femurs and tibias with solid connective tissue. Both of my kidneys function properly, and my heart runs at a steady clip of eighty-seven beats per minute. All in, I figure I'm worth about $250,000."
First Paragraph
"I weight just a little under two hundred pounds, have brown hair, blue eyes, and a full set of teeth. As far as I know, my thyroid gland pumps the right hormones into the twelve pints of blood that circulate in my arteries and veins. At six feet two inches, I have long femurs and tibias with solid connective tissue. Both of my kidneys function properly, and my heart runs at a steady clip of eighty-seven beats per minute. All in, I figure I'm worth about $250,000."
August 14, 2011
Carney explores what he has dubbed "the red market": the black market of human tissue, including organs, blood, hair, eggs, etc.
I picked this book up after hearing an interview with the author on NPR, and I couldn't wait to read it. Ultimately, however, I was disappointed in Carney's presentation of the information. While he brings to light horrible instances of people taking advantage of those in desperate situations (e.g., women who are willing to sell their kidneys just to get enough money to survive), his overall tone is of condemnation for all people involved. This condemnation is not limited to the brokers who take advantage of the other parties involved, but also people who are so poor that they feel their only option for survival is to sell an organ or their eggs and those who receive organ transplants (whether by legal or illegal means). This attitude was pervasive throughout the book and I found it distracting and frustrating. Additionally, his focus was mostly on India, failing to explore markets in other areas of the world, of which there are many.
On the whole this book was interesting but fell short of my expectations.
I picked this book up after hearing an interview with the author on NPR, and I couldn't wait to read it. Ultimately, however, I was disappointed in Carney's presentation of the information. While he brings to light horrible instances of people taking advantage of those in desperate situations (e.g., women who are willing to sell their kidneys just to get enough money to survive), his overall tone is of condemnation for all people involved. This condemnation is not limited to the brokers who take advantage of the other parties involved, but also people who are so poor that they feel their only option for survival is to sell an organ or their eggs and those who receive organ transplants (whether by legal or illegal means). This attitude was pervasive throughout the book and I found it distracting and frustrating. Additionally, his focus was mostly on India, failing to explore markets in other areas of the world, of which there are many.
On the whole this book was interesting but fell short of my expectations.
July 21, 2011
Like other reviewers have said, it was too short. The author barely introduces a topic before moving on to the next one. Also, he had a very preachy tone- obviously, many of the things he is writing about are terrible, but he basically says that anyone who needs an organ transplant should just suck it up and die because otherwise they are going to exploit someone else's body only to extend their own life by a few miserable years.
December 7, 2019
In Scott Carney's The Red Market, there are many moments in which your heart will skip a beat by itself, appalled, horrified, or just plain surprised at the kind of stories he brings forth. But not once will you be patronised. Carney has no time for needless pontification or posturing. He is telling us something important, and he wants to tell us now. That urgency propels this excellent book forward in a way that usually I've only associated with well-written crime novels.
Just that this isn't fiction.
I thought I knew some amount of what went on in the margins of India's society with respect to the particular market Scott Carney is focusing on. I was wrong. Carney's book is essential, ridiculously important reading, especially for us Indians, where so much of the absolute atrocities Carney describes take place. I'm surprised more people don't know or aren't discussing what is clearly a work put together after many years of walking through the grime and crime of the world's back-alleys. I'll do my bit.
The major takeaway for me is how much all the cash that is generated from the world's red markets is not going to poor people on whose blood, literally, the entire edifice is built. In the case of the kidney racket here in Chennai, the poor people who sell their kidneys have no chance of getting one for themselves, if God forbid the need arises. It'll cost too much.
I suppose most people want to ignore all of this, as Carney points out. Even legislators and lawmen, individuals and institutions who are supposed to not let any of this happen want to do exactly that.
The cost of this wilful ignorance could be much more than what we as a society are willing to pay.
Just that this isn't fiction.
I thought I knew some amount of what went on in the margins of India's society with respect to the particular market Scott Carney is focusing on. I was wrong. Carney's book is essential, ridiculously important reading, especially for us Indians, where so much of the absolute atrocities Carney describes take place. I'm surprised more people don't know or aren't discussing what is clearly a work put together after many years of walking through the grime and crime of the world's back-alleys. I'll do my bit.
The major takeaway for me is how much all the cash that is generated from the world's red markets is not going to poor people on whose blood, literally, the entire edifice is built. In the case of the kidney racket here in Chennai, the poor people who sell their kidneys have no chance of getting one for themselves, if God forbid the need arises. It'll cost too much.
I suppose most people want to ignore all of this, as Carney points out. Even legislators and lawmen, individuals and institutions who are supposed to not let any of this happen want to do exactly that.
The cost of this wilful ignorance could be much more than what we as a society are willing to pay.
June 14, 2020
The investigative journalism involved in the writing of this book no doubt deserves 5/5 stars. The author steps through some rather horrifying examples of human tissue trafficking, shining a spotlight on apparently prevalent third world problems, of which most people in 1st world cultures are likely ignorant.
My criticisms of this book lie primarily in the author's moral conclusions - for example, selling kidnapped children to adoption agencies hardly seems on the same moral ground as paying women to have some of their eggs extracted. The author largely fails to acknowledge the difference between low-risk/victimless tissue donations, as opposed to unethical exploitation resulting in severe consequences to the donors.
Regardless of conclusions, the author does an excellent job of examining the pros- and cons- of legalizing various human tissue markets or donation systems, as well as proposing potential solutions to minimize the exploitation of those who lack financial resources.
My criticisms of this book lie primarily in the author's moral conclusions - for example, selling kidnapped children to adoption agencies hardly seems on the same moral ground as paying women to have some of their eggs extracted. The author largely fails to acknowledge the difference between low-risk/victimless tissue donations, as opposed to unethical exploitation resulting in severe consequences to the donors.
Regardless of conclusions, the author does an excellent job of examining the pros- and cons- of legalizing various human tissue markets or donation systems, as well as proposing potential solutions to minimize the exploitation of those who lack financial resources.
February 25, 2024
4.25
Zabrałam odrobinę z oceny, gdyż nie zgadzałam się z wszystkimi tezami autora i nie każdy rozdział nie był dla mnie na równi interesujący, niemniej to tylko moje subiektywne widzimisię ✨
Bardzo solidny reportaż i nietuzinkowy temat, o którym można debatować jeszcze przez wiele dni!
Zabrałam odrobinę z oceny, gdyż nie zgadzałam się z wszystkimi tezami autora i nie każdy rozdział nie był dla mnie na równi interesujący, niemniej to tylko moje subiektywne widzimisię ✨
Bardzo solidny reportaż i nietuzinkowy temat, o którym można debatować jeszcze przez wiele dni!
September 5, 2025
This was really hard for me to get through. For some context: I was born with VACteRL Association (it's capitalized like that for a reason as it's an acronym) and am a "professional patient", as the disabled community often says, since birth, and will be until I die. I'm also a horror fan but not a true crime fan and nothing involving doctors or the medical community - like this. Because I HAVE to trust doctors with my life all the time.
But this... this is so much worse than anything i've ever thought. And as a writer, that writes horror and even body horror (because of my experiences).... this book has shown me that real life is way more disturbing and outright evil than anything my fictional mind could've come up with - before reading this.
Why did I read it? I'm too curious for my own good plus Nonfiction November. I do have an insatiable desire to learn - about many things and everything.
I almost DNF'd it from reading chapter 3 - the kidney chapter. It was SO HARD to get through. Not because of the language, but because of how evil people can be. And because now I think my very existence as a disabled person in America might be unethical. My. Very. Existence. The book isn't ableist, people and the red market are just evil. I don't want my existence to be at the hands of people being scammed out of their own flesh, out of others suffering and even torture... but it could be. And i'd never know.
The pure body horror in this book, that real people have gone through. Worse than my disturbed mind could even come up with on it's own. I had to take more than an entire day off from reading after chapter 3 because I was SO DISTURBED I COULD NOT CONTINUE! And I have never been more grateful to have aphantasia (though I do dream visually and vividly when asleep...) but that doesn't lessen the disturbing thoughts.
And it doesn't stop there. If you or someone you know has adopted a child, and it's a closed adoption... that child could've been stolen. Lots of "adoptable" children... are stolen! Because it's all about the money. Some people don't care, not about torturing others, or even kids, as long as they get $$$.
Flesh is stolen, scammed and taken from the poor to give to the rich, and most of us have no idea. Flesh always goes up the ladder, never down.
People are professional lab rats - seems ok because consensual right? Think again.
This book does offer things we can do to help solve this problem. I would like to know how things have gone since this book was published 13 years ago. But 13 years isn't that long here.
I do highly recommend this book, if you can handle it. This is why I don't read True Crime much. Fictional horror? I'm good with that. Real life horror? Totally different.
But this... this is so much worse than anything i've ever thought. And as a writer, that writes horror and even body horror (because of my experiences).... this book has shown me that real life is way more disturbing and outright evil than anything my fictional mind could've come up with - before reading this.
Why did I read it? I'm too curious for my own good plus Nonfiction November. I do have an insatiable desire to learn - about many things and everything.
I almost DNF'd it from reading chapter 3 - the kidney chapter. It was SO HARD to get through. Not because of the language, but because of how evil people can be. And because now I think my very existence as a disabled person in America might be unethical. My. Very. Existence. The book isn't ableist, people and the red market are just evil. I don't want my existence to be at the hands of people being scammed out of their own flesh, out of others suffering and even torture... but it could be. And i'd never know.
The pure body horror in this book, that real people have gone through. Worse than my disturbed mind could even come up with on it's own. I had to take more than an entire day off from reading after chapter 3 because I was SO DISTURBED I COULD NOT CONTINUE! And I have never been more grateful to have aphantasia (though I do dream visually and vividly when asleep...) but that doesn't lessen the disturbing thoughts.
And it doesn't stop there. If you or someone you know has adopted a child, and it's a closed adoption... that child could've been stolen. Lots of "adoptable" children... are stolen! Because it's all about the money. Some people don't care, not about torturing others, or even kids, as long as they get $$$.
Flesh is stolen, scammed and taken from the poor to give to the rich, and most of us have no idea. Flesh always goes up the ladder, never down.
People are professional lab rats - seems ok because consensual right? Think again.
This book does offer things we can do to help solve this problem. I would like to know how things have gone since this book was published 13 years ago. But 13 years isn't that long here.
I do highly recommend this book, if you can handle it. This is why I don't read True Crime much. Fictional horror? I'm good with that. Real life horror? Totally different.
September 26, 2017
The global medical marketplace is examined in this approachable and important book. Carney takes us on a tour of the many sources of human raw materials, ranging from humorous (India's bizarre hair markets will weird out wig wearers) to the nightmarish (grave robberies, kidnappings).
Reading this book, I couldn't help but think about the things that happen when we are valued only for the raw materials of our bodies. This is something we do to other species daily in unfathomable numbers, but when we are the victims the starkness of it all comes into focus. When reading about Third World "surrogate hostels," in which women pregnant with other couples' fetuses are held in jail-like conditions, only to have their babies taken away almost immediately after birth, I couldn't help but think geez, it's like a human dairy farm.
The chapter on medical testing volunteers--there are people who have essentially made a career out of acting as "human guinea pigs" and being dosed with new prescription drugs--also had me making some connections that aren't present in the text. The US government requires all medications go through rounds of animal testing. Yet, as we find with human test volunteers becoming extremely sick and even dying in some pre-market tests, these animal experiments do not predict results or safety when administered to the human beings they were actually designed for.
As the author passionately argues in his final chapter, we are all something more than our flesh, blood, organs, and bodies. Our inherent worth as individuals should transcend how much our parts can fetch in the global marketplace. One wonders that if we have so much difficulty accepting this seemingly self-evident concept for ourselves, how long it will take us to do the same for other sentient life.
Reading this book, I couldn't help but think about the things that happen when we are valued only for the raw materials of our bodies. This is something we do to other species daily in unfathomable numbers, but when we are the victims the starkness of it all comes into focus. When reading about Third World "surrogate hostels," in which women pregnant with other couples' fetuses are held in jail-like conditions, only to have their babies taken away almost immediately after birth, I couldn't help but think geez, it's like a human dairy farm.
The chapter on medical testing volunteers--there are people who have essentially made a career out of acting as "human guinea pigs" and being dosed with new prescription drugs--also had me making some connections that aren't present in the text. The US government requires all medications go through rounds of animal testing. Yet, as we find with human test volunteers becoming extremely sick and even dying in some pre-market tests, these animal experiments do not predict results or safety when administered to the human beings they were actually designed for.
As the author passionately argues in his final chapter, we are all something more than our flesh, blood, organs, and bodies. Our inherent worth as individuals should transcend how much our parts can fetch in the global marketplace. One wonders that if we have so much difficulty accepting this seemingly self-evident concept for ourselves, how long it will take us to do the same for other sentient life.
February 15, 2013
I went into this knowing it would be interesting but wow. Scott Carney is a great writer, but most importantly The Red Market is an amazing piece of journalism. Exposing the very different ways that value is placed on the many different parts of the human body that the world needs, the book gives an inside look at the trade in human flesh that is compelling and eye-opening.
The story touches on the completely criminal, the quasi-grey-market, and the completely-aboveboard markets for human hair, blood, organs and adoptive children, to name a few, and what is most amazing is that in each case Carney gives us a look at how it works on the ground because he went to these places.
He doesn't tell you "hospitals in India make you bring your own supply of blood if you are going to have an operation that requires a transfusion", he tells you "I went to a food vendor across the street from the hospital, who took me into a back alley and offered to sell me a pint of B- for $20" (not an exact quote but you get the idea).
In some cases, people are abused and exploited. In some cases people are just meeting a need that the legal market is not meeting. But the result is a nuanced view of the global trade in human flesh that argues most generally for transparency in the existing systems that, as they are set up now, offer too many opportunities for profit and exploitation to be of much good to people. Brilliant.
The story touches on the completely criminal, the quasi-grey-market, and the completely-aboveboard markets for human hair, blood, organs and adoptive children, to name a few, and what is most amazing is that in each case Carney gives us a look at how it works on the ground because he went to these places.
He doesn't tell you "hospitals in India make you bring your own supply of blood if you are going to have an operation that requires a transfusion", he tells you "I went to a food vendor across the street from the hospital, who took me into a back alley and offered to sell me a pint of B- for $20" (not an exact quote but you get the idea).
In some cases, people are abused and exploited. In some cases people are just meeting a need that the legal market is not meeting. But the result is a nuanced view of the global trade in human flesh that argues most generally for transparency in the existing systems that, as they are set up now, offer too many opportunities for profit and exploitation to be of much good to people. Brilliant.
March 26, 2015
The captions on the pictures are the perfect abstracts for each chapter. Stick to the captions.
At times this book seemed more like one travelogue of a fucked up world; other times it was more like a series of blog posts (specifically - it was a few ideas jotted down that serve to start a conversation); a free ticket to a horse and pony show put on for the benefit of an earnest American writer; and rarely, it included a small literature review or historical context. Since this is a topic that should be discussed seriously; needs to be discussed seriously; was not really seriously discussed here, let us hope that the rest of the conversation is picked up by others.
Also, let me say thanks to the author for telling me to keep on truckin' after he read the part of my Goodreads update where I admitted I didn't like the book (this is not a real thank you).
I was pleased to read the short history of blood donations in the United States. It was an interesting factoid that I would have missed had I quit on page 120 something.
At times this book seemed more like one travelogue of a fucked up world; other times it was more like a series of blog posts (specifically - it was a few ideas jotted down that serve to start a conversation); a free ticket to a horse and pony show put on for the benefit of an earnest American writer; and rarely, it included a small literature review or historical context. Since this is a topic that should be discussed seriously; needs to be discussed seriously; was not really seriously discussed here, let us hope that the rest of the conversation is picked up by others.
Also, let me say thanks to the author for telling me to keep on truckin' after he read the part of my Goodreads update where I admitted I didn't like the book (this is not a real thank you).
I was pleased to read the short history of blood donations in the United States. It was an interesting factoid that I would have missed had I quit on page 120 something.
March 16, 2017
2,5 *
Naprawdę napaliłam się na tę książkę i miałam nadzieję, że dowiem się z niej czegoś naprawdę ciekawego. Miałam nadzieję, że mnie ta książka poruszy. Spodziewałam się, że autor podzieli się czymś nieco bardziej "soczystym". Niestety, moje oczekiwania zostały zawiedzione. Temat podany jest mdło - autor podaje w większości suche fakty i niewiele jest w tym tła. Po antropologu spodziewałabym się czegoś więcej. Temat, sam w sobie, jest ważny i warto o nim mówić, ale nie czułam się poruszona historiami z książki. Może to ze mną coś jest nie tak, a może jednak to świat jest tak spaprany? Handel tkankami ludzkimi nie zniknie, dopóki coś wyprodukowanego przez naukowców nie zastąpi żywych organów. Handel ludzkimi zarodkami i dziećmi nie zniknie pewnie nigdy. Transparentność procesów transplantacyjnych i adopcyjnych nic nie da. Ludzie nie są fajni i zwykle dbają tylko o własną dupę. Autor ma chyba nieco nadziei na zmiany na lepsze, ale ja nie, kompletnie nie mam złudzeń.
Naprawdę napaliłam się na tę książkę i miałam nadzieję, że dowiem się z niej czegoś naprawdę ciekawego. Miałam nadzieję, że mnie ta książka poruszy. Spodziewałam się, że autor podzieli się czymś nieco bardziej "soczystym". Niestety, moje oczekiwania zostały zawiedzione. Temat podany jest mdło - autor podaje w większości suche fakty i niewiele jest w tym tła. Po antropologu spodziewałabym się czegoś więcej. Temat, sam w sobie, jest ważny i warto o nim mówić, ale nie czułam się poruszona historiami z książki. Może to ze mną coś jest nie tak, a może jednak to świat jest tak spaprany? Handel tkankami ludzkimi nie zniknie, dopóki coś wyprodukowanego przez naukowców nie zastąpi żywych organów. Handel ludzkimi zarodkami i dziećmi nie zniknie pewnie nigdy. Transparentność procesów transplantacyjnych i adopcyjnych nic nie da. Ludzie nie są fajni i zwykle dbają tylko o własną dupę. Autor ma chyba nieco nadziei na zmiany na lepsze, ale ja nie, kompletnie nie mam złudzeń.
October 28, 2013
This is essentially a polemic against anonymous donation of anything - blood, organs, children. For my part, Carney's convinced me. I didn't have a strong opinion one way or another... in fact, the only topic I've ever really thought about here is international adoption. But I do approve of transparency, and he's made a strong argument in favor of opening the books on all practices dealing with the human body.
I think the most shocking to me was organ transplants. Once he started talking about it, I found myself thinking, yeah, why ARE organ transplants anonymous? Especially when so many people find so much joy in knowing who the donors/recipients were? Read this book, and you'll learn why.
I think the most shocking to me was organ transplants. Once he started talking about it, I found myself thinking, yeah, why ARE organ transplants anonymous? Especially when so many people find so much joy in knowing who the donors/recipients were? Read this book, and you'll learn why.
May 7, 2022
This was a good read.
Very straight-laced and serious, not anything like Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers or Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And other Questions about Dead Bodies.
I actually found it quite sad and disturbing at times - specifically around the human tests, chapter on blood, and of course, all the illegal activities.
I found it pretty disheartening to read all the things people do to harm their health (or others), just for money.
4.2/5
Very straight-laced and serious, not anything like Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers or Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And other Questions about Dead Bodies.
I actually found it quite sad and disturbing at times - specifically around the human tests, chapter on blood, and of course, all the illegal activities.
I found it pretty disheartening to read all the things people do to harm their health (or others), just for money.
4.2/5
September 30, 2023
This book is basically an expose on the demand and supply of human organs, how the trading is done and the economics involved. The author has covered illegal bone trading, kidney donors and buyers, blood farming, surrogacy, adoption rackets and trading in hair. The author has mostly focussed on India where he has spent his formative years and Cyprus for fertility centres. A good investigative account of illegal trading in human organs, the author has gone out into the field to get the details and expose the various networks involved.
A good piece of investigative journalism.
A good piece of investigative journalism.
July 25, 2016
Scott Carney travels the world (and by "the world" I mean "India") to discover the dark side of the red market, the trade in human body parts. Whether it's blood for transfusions during/after surgery, kidneys for replacements, or female eggs for in vitro fertilization, for every heart-warming success story there is a dark counterpart, for all those things have to come from somewhere, and when anything has a market value, some people will do anything to make a profit.
I wanted to like this book, and some parts of it I really did. It is definitely concerning to read about the global black market in human tissue, and when the author focuses on the facts related to it I found the book very informative. The problem is the author pushes his own agenda too hard, and he is too opinionated for my taste. He frequently points out how sad it is that people who live in poverty are "forced" to sell things like blood to make ends meet, citing how it's exploitative and unfair, but then insinuates that they shouldn't be allowed to do it. Which does nothing but cut off a potential source of income from a free renewable resource in their possession.
He bemoans how terrible and unfair it is that the poor have to give blood for money so that the rich can use it for themselves, but this is a fundamental aspect of human civilization, and is important for a functioning economy. In almost every situation in almost every form of government money flows from poor hands into rich ones, so every opportunity you have to siphon money out of rich pockets and distribute it among poor communities should be seized upon, as it creates a more balanced, free-flowing system.
This was my problem with the book, you see. Had he stuck to the facts, and nothing but the facts, I would have been appropriately alarmed and terrified at the subject matter. Instead I spent most of the time fuming that the guy had the audacity to decide what is right for people in a different financial situation than he is. It's sad too, because he has an excellent point in the end, that human tissue exchange should be made more public so that the black market could be more easily traced, but I couldn't focus on that because I was too busy disagreeing with just about everything else he said.
Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the author spoils the ending of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is pretty much the biggest pet peeve ever of mine. Fortunately I've already read it, but c'mon man, what are you doing!?
I can't say this book is terrible, if you agree with his views you may find it a highly satisfying read. I prefer cold, distant, objective, and emotionless nonfiction, and the author was too emotionally involved, which killed the book for me. 2 stars.
I wanted to like this book, and some parts of it I really did. It is definitely concerning to read about the global black market in human tissue, and when the author focuses on the facts related to it I found the book very informative. The problem is the author pushes his own agenda too hard, and he is too opinionated for my taste. He frequently points out how sad it is that people who live in poverty are "forced" to sell things like blood to make ends meet, citing how it's exploitative and unfair, but then insinuates that they shouldn't be allowed to do it. Which does nothing but cut off a potential source of income from a free renewable resource in their possession.
He bemoans how terrible and unfair it is that the poor have to give blood for money so that the rich can use it for themselves, but this is a fundamental aspect of human civilization, and is important for a functioning economy. In almost every situation in almost every form of government money flows from poor hands into rich ones, so every opportunity you have to siphon money out of rich pockets and distribute it among poor communities should be seized upon, as it creates a more balanced, free-flowing system.
This was my problem with the book, you see. Had he stuck to the facts, and nothing but the facts, I would have been appropriately alarmed and terrified at the subject matter. Instead I spent most of the time fuming that the guy had the audacity to decide what is right for people in a different financial situation than he is. It's sad too, because he has an excellent point in the end, that human tissue exchange should be made more public so that the black market could be more easily traced, but I couldn't focus on that because I was too busy disagreeing with just about everything else he said.
Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the author spoils the ending of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is pretty much the biggest pet peeve ever of mine. Fortunately I've already read it, but c'mon man, what are you doing!?
I can't say this book is terrible, if you agree with his views you may find it a highly satisfying read. I prefer cold, distant, objective, and emotionless nonfiction, and the author was too emotionally involved, which killed the book for me. 2 stars.
October 26, 2011
This is a market that nobody really talks about, is not fully regulated and is highly profitable for everyone except the donors. While the author concentrates on the market for whole skeletons, fresh organs, blood and young children and babies in India, he does mention that there are other countries who also traffic in these areas.
He certainly doesn't hold anything back, and while really interesting, I wouldn't recommend this as pre-mealtime reading. The research and interviews he's conducted with parents whose children were kidnapped, only to be found having been adopted through legitimate adoption agencies in countries like the USA and the UK are very touching. The research into blood factories where farmers and villagers are sometimes kidnapped, chained to beds in a barn next to cows while drained of their blood puts even Dracula in the pale. Then there are the bone factories, where cadavers, having been stolen from graves, are cleaned and polished by people so medical colleges around the world have whole, whitened skeletons for their students to study. Even hair has a market, and there's remy hair from people who pledge their hair as a sacrifice and have it removed from their heads at a temple, but there's also hair that's collected from other locations which, because of their condition, have uses I had never once considered. The chapters dedicated to villagers in India who sell their kidneys, part of their liver or eye were eye-openers for me, not that I was unaware that there are people who still sell their organs on the black market, but more about how some hospitals cover up the fact that they're trading in purchased organs or about the number of people who will risk surgery in countries just so they can purchase their translated organs on the red market.
Fascinating if sometimes really horrific reading. But I'm glad I read this because I'm much more aware of what some people will do to make a buck at the expense of someone else or to prolong their own lives.
He certainly doesn't hold anything back, and while really interesting, I wouldn't recommend this as pre-mealtime reading. The research and interviews he's conducted with parents whose children were kidnapped, only to be found having been adopted through legitimate adoption agencies in countries like the USA and the UK are very touching. The research into blood factories where farmers and villagers are sometimes kidnapped, chained to beds in a barn next to cows while drained of their blood puts even Dracula in the pale. Then there are the bone factories, where cadavers, having been stolen from graves, are cleaned and polished by people so medical colleges around the world have whole, whitened skeletons for their students to study. Even hair has a market, and there's remy hair from people who pledge their hair as a sacrifice and have it removed from their heads at a temple, but there's also hair that's collected from other locations which, because of their condition, have uses I had never once considered. The chapters dedicated to villagers in India who sell their kidneys, part of their liver or eye were eye-openers for me, not that I was unaware that there are people who still sell their organs on the black market, but more about how some hospitals cover up the fact that they're trading in purchased organs or about the number of people who will risk surgery in countries just so they can purchase their translated organs on the red market.
Fascinating if sometimes really horrific reading. But I'm glad I read this because I'm much more aware of what some people will do to make a buck at the expense of someone else or to prolong their own lives.
February 25, 2015
I had really high hopes for this book. It seemed like just my sort of thing, dealing with the macabre but in a serious way. No vampires and zombies for me ;o)
But although I learned quite a bit about the world market of humans - parts and otherwise - the book left me a bit befuddled.
It reminded me of what it's like to read about being a Vegan or discussing food with a Vegan. It's all or nothing with them, and it seemed like the author was arguing a bit on that side as well, i.e. use no body parts at all.
It wasn't leaning towards that at the beginning. I found the beginning quite interesting and informative. But somewhere around the middle, he started to become a bit extremist about the whole thing.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't have any answers either when it comes to an ethical/just way of dealing with body parts/tissues/fluids, but then again I didn't expect to find that in this book either.
I thought it would be a journalistic view of what's going on in murkier areas of the world when it comes to kidneys, blood, vaccines, etc. Instead it turned a bit into a 'isn't this horrible and we should do away with it all' rant.
Great potential, but in the end not as great as it could've been.
But although I learned quite a bit about the world market of humans - parts and otherwise - the book left me a bit befuddled.
It reminded me of what it's like to read about being a Vegan or discussing food with a Vegan. It's all or nothing with them, and it seemed like the author was arguing a bit on that side as well, i.e. use no body parts at all.
It wasn't leaning towards that at the beginning. I found the beginning quite interesting and informative. But somewhere around the middle, he started to become a bit extremist about the whole thing.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't have any answers either when it comes to an ethical/just way of dealing with body parts/tissues/fluids, but then again I didn't expect to find that in this book either.
I thought it would be a journalistic view of what's going on in murkier areas of the world when it comes to kidneys, blood, vaccines, etc. Instead it turned a bit into a 'isn't this horrible and we should do away with it all' rant.
Great potential, but in the end not as great as it could've been.
September 19, 2011
Not as good as I had hoped. More like a series of articles. Not necessarily a bad concept but I am afraid it didn't hit the mark
November 22, 2023
Lots of things happen behind closed doors including the sale of human skeletons for medical school anatomy classes, falsifying the origin of organs for transplants, and the price of blood transfusions in India being more than a monetary cost. The Red Market covers an assortment of topics on how human tissue is traded around the world including different means of becoming a parent - through adoption, in vitro fertilization (IVF), or surrogacy. In addition, Carney recounts his experience with the risks of some human drug trials, where hair is gathered for hair transplants, and the future of stem cell research in organ replacement.
Based on Carney’s residency in India, many of the chapters focus on the processes of human tissue transfer in India, and how they impact European countries and/or the U.S. While I did learn a lot, I felt that Carney focused too much on his opinion rather than fact driven knowledge, some chapters more-so than others. Carney emphasizes that the human tissue industry not only takes advantage of individuals living in poverty but broken health systems where people cannot afford to save their own lives, or have a child, without dipping into systems where prices are more reasonable. If you’re interested in medicine, ethics, or cultural studies Red Market is the book for you!
Based on Carney’s residency in India, many of the chapters focus on the processes of human tissue transfer in India, and how they impact European countries and/or the U.S. While I did learn a lot, I felt that Carney focused too much on his opinion rather than fact driven knowledge, some chapters more-so than others. Carney emphasizes that the human tissue industry not only takes advantage of individuals living in poverty but broken health systems where people cannot afford to save their own lives, or have a child, without dipping into systems where prices are more reasonable. If you’re interested in medicine, ethics, or cultural studies Red Market is the book for you!
November 13, 2019
Red market is market/economy that trades with human tissue, body parts and even whole people ... The lack of regulation and non-transparency opens many possibilities for illegal trades and exploitation ... Quote from the book is the best description of that chilling investigation: “The ample supply of available organs in the third world and excruciatingly long waiting lists in the first world, make organ brokering a profitable occupation.”
Want to read
August 27, 2022dnf na 144 stronie. wszystkie rozdziały z tematami, które mnie interesowały przeczytałam, ale reszty nie jestem w stanie, bo jest nudne
January 27, 2012
08-06-2011: It only took a few hours for me to devour this very interesting book. It has so many truths I didn't want (and I think nobody wants) to muse about that I just tried to read as fast as I could so I could process its contents and make them part of that really hidden part of my brain.
This book raises a bunch of questions; starting with the obvious: What the f * * k is going on in this crazy planet? People harvesting blood twice a week from emaciated; gray-colored skin blood-slaves in order to supply for a hospital chain that otherwise will default in helping victims of health and natural disasters? Wealthy ones enjoying a life full of beauty; health and comfort at the price of someone or something somewhere suffering a painful and slow death at the same time? Couples enjoying their newly surrogate-born child while the mother of that child is being treated as a womb without a face in maternity camps resembling concentration camps? Babies being born with their mouths in the middle of their foreheads because their mothers volunteered for a drug-study pursuing the dream of giving them a decent future?
OMG! It goes on and on and it is so horrible; that my conclusion is that we; human beings should once again try to break all the chains that tie us to loving things in this life of ours. We should not be attached to anything; not even (especially not) to our own bodies which will for sure be desecrated and harvested by unscrupulous body snatchers who have the long tentacles of their very profitable business all around the world. Beloved's corneas will be sliced away and kidneys will be extracted from dead bodies and no-one would do anything about that. Once a person dies; he loses all his rights. He becomes a canvas; a thing; and when the person is in reasonable good health; his whole body could profit hundreds of thousands of dollars in the horrible red market. Definitely nothing to think about when we are struggling to live a normal life. I thank the author of this book for opening my eyes; but I am really shocked by what I learned. I won't kill the messenger; but the message is horrible; and it is so well written and entertaining; that the reader just can't lift her eyes from the paper until she turns the last page.
08-05-2011: This is a very disturbing book. A research about the market of human parts; and human bodies. The red market which exists and is a reality. We don't like to think about it; but it is there; in front of our very eyes; and it moves billions of dollars a year. I have read only the first part; and I already think that this book is a must for anyone who wants to know what is going on in the world they live in.
This book raises a bunch of questions; starting with the obvious: What the f * * k is going on in this crazy planet? People harvesting blood twice a week from emaciated; gray-colored skin blood-slaves in order to supply for a hospital chain that otherwise will default in helping victims of health and natural disasters? Wealthy ones enjoying a life full of beauty; health and comfort at the price of someone or something somewhere suffering a painful and slow death at the same time? Couples enjoying their newly surrogate-born child while the mother of that child is being treated as a womb without a face in maternity camps resembling concentration camps? Babies being born with their mouths in the middle of their foreheads because their mothers volunteered for a drug-study pursuing the dream of giving them a decent future?
OMG! It goes on and on and it is so horrible; that my conclusion is that we; human beings should once again try to break all the chains that tie us to loving things in this life of ours. We should not be attached to anything; not even (especially not) to our own bodies which will for sure be desecrated and harvested by unscrupulous body snatchers who have the long tentacles of their very profitable business all around the world. Beloved's corneas will be sliced away and kidneys will be extracted from dead bodies and no-one would do anything about that. Once a person dies; he loses all his rights. He becomes a canvas; a thing; and when the person is in reasonable good health; his whole body could profit hundreds of thousands of dollars in the horrible red market. Definitely nothing to think about when we are struggling to live a normal life. I thank the author of this book for opening my eyes; but I am really shocked by what I learned. I won't kill the messenger; but the message is horrible; and it is so well written and entertaining; that the reader just can't lift her eyes from the paper until she turns the last page.
08-05-2011: This is a very disturbing book. A research about the market of human parts; and human bodies. The red market which exists and is a reality. We don't like to think about it; but it is there; in front of our very eyes; and it moves billions of dollars a year. I have read only the first part; and I already think that this book is a must for anyone who wants to know what is going on in the world they live in.
October 10, 2020
*Until now, forgot that I wanted to mark this read down*
More of a 2.5/5
THOUGHTS:
-This was published in 2011-12?, so I probably will have to do further reading if I wanted to know the current situation. Still, interesting primer.
-I think artificial articulated skeletons are refined enough nowadays to compete with real bone. That's a complete guess based on one video I watched a year back.
-The writing style might not be for me; good though.
-Did not know religious bone flutes/bowls were a religious thing. The more you know.
-The blood donation chapter was a throwback to when I read that book about blood. Yeaaaa.
Donation safer than paid most of the time
-Geez, the unnamed kid who may or may not be a kidnapped kid used for adoption is now older than 18 years old, which is when the adoptive family told the inquiring parties they would tell him that it was a possibility. Hope his life isn't ruined. I'm rooting for the lad.
-GOOD GRACIOUS! Come on, India and surrounding regions. Why you be such a breeding ground for all of the shady human parts businesses? A feature in every one of the chapters isn't a good look. I hope this has changed since 2011 because oof. Hope a middle class slump erases some of this practices.
-I know it is super unfair given how many people want to have their OWN biological child, but the amount of money and risk that goes into an IVF or surrogacy situation makes me feel things when there are so many children that could be adopted or fostered or even mentored.
-The lack of post-operation support and care given to all of these vulnerable members of the giving side is so very disappointing but expected
-Thank goodness the last chapter was about a trade in human materials that was not exploitative or predatory. The idea of giant mounds of hair that needs to be sorted and cleaned did get me more squeamish than any of the other more big deal transactions like that kidney chapter.
It would have been better to read a more recently published book to know the current landscape of "the red market", but this was still a nice fast read.
More of a 2.5/5
THOUGHTS:
-This was published in 2011-12?, so I probably will have to do further reading if I wanted to know the current situation. Still, interesting primer.
-I think artificial articulated skeletons are refined enough nowadays to compete with real bone. That's a complete guess based on one video I watched a year back.
-The writing style might not be for me; good though.
-Did not know religious bone flutes/bowls were a religious thing. The more you know.
-The blood donation chapter was a throwback to when I read that book about blood. Yeaaaa.
Donation safer than paid most of the time
-Geez, the unnamed kid who may or may not be a kidnapped kid used for adoption is now older than 18 years old, which is when the adoptive family told the inquiring parties they would tell him that it was a possibility. Hope his life isn't ruined. I'm rooting for the lad.
-GOOD GRACIOUS! Come on, India and surrounding regions. Why you be such a breeding ground for all of the shady human parts businesses? A feature in every one of the chapters isn't a good look. I hope this has changed since 2011 because oof. Hope a middle class slump erases some of this practices.
-I know it is super unfair given how many people want to have their OWN biological child, but the amount of money and risk that goes into an IVF or surrogacy situation makes me feel things when there are so many children that could be adopted or fostered or even mentored.
-The lack of post-operation support and care given to all of these vulnerable members of the giving side is so very disappointing but expected
-Thank goodness the last chapter was about a trade in human materials that was not exploitative or predatory. The idea of giant mounds of hair that needs to be sorted and cleaned did get me more squeamish than any of the other more big deal transactions like that kidney chapter.
It would have been better to read a more recently published book to know the current landscape of "the red market", but this was still a nice fast read.
May 8, 2020
I didn't think a book could be this full of propaganda and opinions and not be labeled Fiction. Beyond that I can't stand the outrage it tries to push on things that isn't outrageous at all. For example I cannot take anyone serious if they on the one hand talks about putting prisoners to death (by electricity/too old drugs often not working correctly, which is the norm of execution in the US where the author is from, but not a bad word about that in the book) as if it isn't cold-blooded murder by the state but suddenly sees it as completely outrageous if you harvest the organs of the person put to death by an injection that stops the heart. Of course one is The American Way and the other is in China and if it happens in China it must be bad!
Such outrage over "35000 organs that are untraceable" (according to the book) and then must be from prisoners or unwilling patients according to the authors logic while 100% of organs in the US is untraceable (which the author even says in another chapter). Just because it is legal in the US doesn't mean it isn't organ trading.
This reeks of hate against whomever is the colour of skin that you have to hate according to politicians (Yellow and Red is in atm.) I'm not saying anything reported in the book is okay but the percentage of organs this outrage is about is such a small number per capita compared to what happens in the USA so travelling to other countries to tell a story that is about something that is worse at home is saying a lot about the author.
Just read the books he uses a sources instead. The rest is just poor people doing a theatre show for a naïve American praying on their histories, just like a tabloid paper.
Such outrage over "35000 organs that are untraceable" (according to the book) and then must be from prisoners or unwilling patients according to the authors logic while 100% of organs in the US is untraceable (which the author even says in another chapter). Just because it is legal in the US doesn't mean it isn't organ trading.
This reeks of hate against whomever is the colour of skin that you have to hate according to politicians (Yellow and Red is in atm.) I'm not saying anything reported in the book is okay but the percentage of organs this outrage is about is such a small number per capita compared to what happens in the USA so travelling to other countries to tell a story that is about something that is worse at home is saying a lot about the author.
Just read the books he uses a sources instead. The rest is just poor people doing a theatre show for a naïve American praying on their histories, just like a tabloid paper.
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January 16, 2021Sama nie do konca wiem jak ocenic ten reportaz, dlatego narazie sie powstrzymam. Niestety zawiodlam sie okropnie, siegajac po te ksiazke, wierzylam ze bedzie ona przepelniona informacjami, ktorych nie znalezlibysmy po szybkim researchu w google, a rzadziej dostepnymi SMACZKAMI. O kurde, no niestety nie. Autor tutaj polecial bardzo ogolowo, czasem tak bardzo zbaczajac z przewodniego tematu, ze zastanawialam sie nad tytulem tej ksiazki. Nie wiem jak wy, ale ja w niektorych momentach odczulam takie... skopiowanie informacji niemal z wikipedii. Niestety nużył mnie w wiekszosci i nie dowiedzialam sie zbyt wiele nowego.
July 2, 2011
This was incredibly interesting and fantastically written for laymen to follow. For a work with this much jargon and terminology the story galloped along at a breakneck pace pulling me with it. The horrific results of Carney's investigation should not be ignored. While the vast majority of the research was conducted on foreign soil, I would venture to say that the exact same types of things described in the book are happening within our own shores in the United States. It has given me serious pause when considering whether I would want to receive a transplant and it has convinced me that I absolutely should, at every opportunity presented, donate blood when I am eligible.
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