UNOS DonateLife

February 6, 2002

UNOS Statement On The Truth About Organ Trafficking Rumors

A recent news report from Mexico City detailed the investigation and break-up of a child-trafficking ring that allegedly smuggled Central American children to the United States. The report indicated that Mexico's Federal Preventative Police were investigating the possibility that the children were being smuggled as part of an organ trafficking scheme or other illegal activity.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which manages the U.S. organ transplant network, emphatically states that the adoption or theft of foreign children to be murdered for their body parts does not take place in the U.S.

Working with the U.S. government, UNOS has tracked such reports since they first appeared in the mid-1980s. Every time the rumor has been investigated, not even the slightest evidence has ever been found to prove it to be true.

The organ procurement and transplantation process is a highly complex medical procedure that involves many highly trained medical professionals. It is far too technical to take place in a makeshift facility hidden from public inspection. And it would be impossible to hide if it took place in a hospital.

"These rumors are dangerous because people often believe in them," said Esther Padilla, kidney recipient and member of the UNOS Board of Directors. "One of the main reasons people give for not wanting to be an organ donor after they die is the belief in a black market in human organs. Unfortunately, every day men, women and children are dying because there are not enough donated organs."

U.S. Hispanic Transplant Statistics

• There are currently more than 11,000 Hispanics awaiting an organ transplant in the U.S. Approximately 10 percent of them are non-U.S. citizens.
  
  
• 2,482 Hispanics received an organ transplant in 2000. More than 300 were non-U.S. citizens.
  
  
• 612 Hispanics died awaiting an organ transplant in 2000.

UNOS, a nonprofit organization, maintains the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) under contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. UNOS brings together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop organ transplant policy on behalf of the OPTN. UNOS provides the OPTN with a functional, effective management system incorporating the UNOS Board of Directors, committees and regional membership structure to operate OPTN elements and activities.