<P> The high demand for organs and long waitlists have been met with a corresponding expansion of the illegal organ trade . Currently, it is estimated that about 10% of all transplants occur illegally, with the Internet acting as a facilitator . One source estimates that at least 4000 prisoners were executed in 2006 to supply approximately 8000 kidneys and 3000 livers for foreign buyers . In 2007, 2500 kidney transplants were purchased in Pakistan, with foreign recipients making up two - thirds of the purchasers . As of 2007, the Voluntary Health Association of India estimated that approximately 2000 Indians sell a kidney every year . In the same year, in Canada and the United Kingdom, experts estimated that about 30 to 50 patients illegally purchased organs abroad . </P> <P> The United Network for Organ Sharing defines transplant tourism as "the purchase of a transplant organ abroad that includes access to an organ while bypassing laws, rules, or processes of any or all countries involved ." The term "transplant tourism" describes the commercialism that drives illegal organ trade, but not all medical tourism for organs is illegal . For example, in some cases, both the donor and the recipient of the organ travel to a country with adequate facilities to perform a legal surgery . In other cases, a recipient travels to receive the organ of a relative living abroad . Transplant tourism raises concerns because it involves the transfer of healthy organs in one direction, depleting the regions where organs are bought . This transfer typically occurs in trends: from South to North, from developing to developed nations, from females to males, and from people of color to whites - trends that experts say "(have) exacerbated old...divisions ." </P> <P> The kidney is the most sought - after organ in transplant tourism, with prices for the organ ranging from as little as $1300 to as much as $150,000 . In fact, reports estimate that 75% of all illegal organ trading involves kidneys . The liver trade is also prominent in transplant tourism, with prices ranging from $4000 to $157,000 . Though livers are regenerative, making liver donations non-fatal, they are much less common due to an excruciating post-operative recovery period that deters donors . Other high - priced bodily organs commonly sold in the organ trade include corneas ($24,400) and unfertilized eggs ($12,400), while lower - priced bodily commodities include blood ($25--$337), skin ($10 per square inch), and bones / ligaments ($5,465). While there is a high demand, and correspondingly a very high price, for vital organs such as hearts and lungs, transplant tourism and organ trafficking of these parts is very rare due to the sophisticated nature of the transplant surgery and the state - of - the - art facilities required for such transplants . </P> <P> The international community has issued many ordinances and declarations against the organ trade . Examples include the World Medical Authority's 1985 denouncement of organs for commercial use; the Council of Europe's Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of 1997 and its 2002 Optional Protocol Concerning Transplantation of Organs and Tissues of Human Origin; and the Declaration of Istanbul on organ trafficking and transplant tourism . The World Health Organization (WHO) has played a prominent role in condemning the illegal organ trade . The WHO first declared organ trade illegal in 1987, stating that such a trade violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . In 1991, at the 44th World Health Assembly, it approved nine guiding principles for human organ transplant . The principles clearly stated that organs cannot be the subject of financial transactions . On May 22, 2004, these guidelines were slightly amended at the 57th World Health Assembly . They are intended for the use of governments worldwide . These global initiatives have served as a helpful resource for establishing medical professional codes and a legal framework for the issue, but have not provided the sanctions required for enforcement . </P>

The buying and selling of kidneys is known to occur in