Organ trading, tourism, and trafficking within Europe.

Abstract

This article argues for a regulatory and institutional response towards organ trading, tourism and trafficking that differs from extant approaches. European countries have hitherto adopted blanket prohibitions on organ trading (i.e. the buying or selling of human organs). This article advances the view that policy makers have thereby overreacted to legitimate public health concerns and the evils of organ trafficking (i.e. organ trad-ing and tourism involving coercion or deception). It argues for a trial of a very tightly regulated system of organ trading that could eventually lead to a limited system of organ tourism (i.e. organ trading involving more than one jurisdiction).