Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The existence of for-profit tissue banks is no secret. In the 1990s, two landmark scandals ignited public outcry in the United States and Britain, and, more recently, Rebecca Skloot s bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks renewed debates about property rights and the ethics of consent. Now, medical historian Naomi Pfeffer digs deeper. Beginning with the technical innovations that enabled blood storage in the 1920s, Pfeffer charts the industry s evolution through to twenty-first century controversies surrounding stem-cell research and early forays into laboratory-grown organs.
Pfeffer documents how more than 450 million tissue specimens in the United States and Britain have been harvested and are currently in storage, often without the donor s or in the case of the dead the family s consent or even knowledge. Filled with fascinating stories and comparing the industries on both sides of the pond, this is a much-needed exploration of an important yet largely invisible issue."
Synopsis
Except for organ transplantation little is known about the variety of stuff extracted from corpses and repurposed for medicine. A single body might be disassembled to provide hundreds of products for the millions of medical treatments performed each year. Cadaver skin can be used in wound dressings, corneas used to restore sight. Parts may even be used for aesthetic enhancement, such as liquefied skin injections to smooth wrinkles.
This book is a history of the nameless corpses from which cadaver stuff is extracted and the entities involved in removing, processing, and distributing it. Pfeffer goes behind the mortuary door to reveal the technical, imaginative, and sometimes underhanded practices that have facilitated the global industry of transforming human fragments into branded convenience products. The dead have no need of cash, but money changes hands at every link of the supply chain. This book refocuses attention away from individual altruism and onto professional and corporate ethics."
Synopsis
The cadaver industry in Britain and the United States, its processes and profits
Except for organ transplantation little is known about the variety of stuff extracted from corpses and repurposed for medicine. A single body might be disassembled to provide hundreds of products for the millions of medical treatments performed each year. Cadaver skin can be used in wound dressings, corneas used to restore sight. Parts may even be used for aesthetic enhancement, such as liquefied skin injections to smooth wrinkles.
This book is a history of the nameless corpses from which cadaver stuff is extracted and the entities involved in removing, processing, and distributing it. Pfeffer goes behind the mortuary door to reveal the technical, imaginative, and sometimes underhanded practices that have facilitated the global industry of transforming human fragments into branded convenience products. The dead have no need of cash, but money changes hands at every link of the supply chain. This book refocuses attention away from individual altruism and onto professional and corporate ethics."
Synopsis
The dead have no need of cash, but money changes hands at every link of the supply chain. This thought-provoking work documents the history, politics, and ethics of the cadaver trade in the United States and Britain as well as the incredible profits made from unpaid--and often unwitting--sources.