 |
RFID Tags Proposed To Halt Blackmarket Cadaver Trade
An investigation into illegal sale and distribution of cadavers and body parts at the University of California, Los Angeles, has lead to recommendations that include implanting cadavers and individual body parts with RFID tags.
Last year, UCLA suspended its willed-body program. The program director was arrested after an investigation of apparently stolen body parts revealed serious problems with security in the program. A body-parts dealer who is not affiliated with the University of California system was also arrested.
Former California Gov. George Deukmejian, who led an investigative task force, told University of California regents Wednesday that the probe revealed a "clear lack of standards" in accounting for specimens, keeping records and oversight.
Among the recommendations, which included better security cameras and improved record-keeping, was the idea that cadavers and even individual body parts should be identified with bar codes or with implanted radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.
The law of supply and demand has induced some people involved in legitimate medical research on bodies willed to science to seek illegitimate profit. A 1999 scandal at UC Irvine began when an audit showed that the director of its willed-body program had sold spines to a Phoenix hospital for $5,000 each. He was fired but never prosecuted. UC Irvine is now the only school with cameras in its laboratory and the only one to conduct unannounced inventories of its cadavers and body parts.
The demand for body parts for use by biomedical firms, pharmaceutical companies, surgeons training in new techniques and educational institutions without their own programs — has risen sharply in the past few years. The sale of human body parts is illegal, but the law allows suppliers to charge "reasonable" fees to recover costs.
According to a price list included in the UC report, one supplier, the International Institute for the Advancement of Medicine, in Jessup, Pa., charges $2,100 for a torso with head and $887 for a whole arm with shoulder.
Larry Niven coined the term organlegging to describe practice of trafficking in human organs in his 1967 novel The Jigsaw Man. Read more about implanting live people with RFID tags for bill payment; also the FDA has approved the VeriChip tag for use in hospital patients. See UCLA weighs cadaver safeguards and Report finds lax oversite in UC cadaver program for more on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/10/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
Spray-On Skin For Burns From ReCell Kit
Spray-on skin prepared from a patient's own skin cells may be the perfect choice for even severe second-degree burns.
Gregory Benford On Artificial Biological Selection for Longevity
Benford, a physics professor and sf writer, has put his money where Robert Heinlein's mouth was, and created a corporation to extend human life.
Your Thoughts On Youtube?
Scientists pull information out of the brains of people watching Youtube. Make up your own joke, but this method seems to work.
Death Algorithm Developed In Japan
Interesting work raises moral questions; I wonder if this algorithm will me made available in a simple home test.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
AirRobot Micro-UAV 'Fairies' In Shakespeare Play
At least they were not the 'rude mechanicals'.
Paralysis Ray Uses Photocontrolled Molecular Switch
Gerry was dubious. She had seen abortive attempts at paralysis rays before.
Brine Wells May Swallow Towns
Dissolve 1 teaspoon of the Quadraturin essence in 1 cup of water.
Will In-Vitro Meat Change Our Lives?
ChickieNobs, anyone?
Walky iPhone Finger Gesture Robot Controller
Let your fingers - uh - your robot do the walking. And hopping.
OnStar Stolen Vehicle Slowdown Foils Carjacker
Better than a car chase.
Robot Martial Arts Videos
Robo-Shiko!
Interactive TV Patent From Sony
Can you dance faster than the White Clown?
Smart Contact Lens With Power Harvesting Circuits
Smart contacts with VR connections.
'Significant Amount' Of Lunar Water Found
Droogs! There's water ice on the moon!
FOXP2 Tweak Yields Planet Of The Apes?
Get your filthy words off me, you damn dirty ape!
Lev, Theremin-Playing Robot
Patsy Cline classic played by robot.
XT-1 Micro Mouse With Blazing Speed
These are fully autonomouse robots.
Escape Pods, Refuge Of ISS Astronauts From Space Junk
Who first thought about escape pods?
Steerable Bowling Ball Is A Cheesy Spherical Robot
Once the province of geeks, now in bowling alleys.
Bio-Mechanics And Micro-Robotic Flight
Micro air vehicles and insect flight.
