By Randy Hendrickson
The Istanbul Summit, a meeting convened by the The Transplantation Society and the International Society of Nephrology held April 30 – May 1, 2008, created a set of international ethical principles for organ transplantation practices. Poor people who sell their organs are being exploited, by both richer people within their own countries as well as by transplant tourists from abroad. The Declaration of Istanbul focused on prohibiting exploitive practices such as organ trafficking, transplant tourism, and transplant commercialism and “aims to halt these unethical activities and to foster safe and accountable practices that meet the needs of transplant recipients while protecting donors.”
A summary of the Declaration, written by the Steering Committee of the Istanbul Summit appears in The Lancet (“Organ Trafficking and Transplantation Tourism and Commercialism: The Declaration of Istanbul” --July 5, 2008; 372(9632):5-6) and describes how the policies advocated by the Declaration will help to combat unethical transplant practices on an international level. Provisions of the Declaration include:
- Defining what is meant by organ trafficking, transplant commercialism, and transplant tourism;
- Universal approaches for provision of care to living donors and standards that support donation from dead donors;
- Reinforcing the efforts of governments of countries where these practices occur to take action in adopting and enforcing stiff laws to end these wrongful practices.
According to the Steering Committee of the Istanbul Summit,
“The legacy of transplantation is threatened by organ trafficking and transplant tourism. The Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism aims to combat these activities and to preserve the nobility of organ donation. The success of transplantation as a life-saving treatment does not require—nor justify—victimizing the world’s poor people as the source of organs for the rich.”
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