Iranian Organ Market

This morning, I heard on the radio program, The Takeaway, a fascinating discussion about an apparently free organ market in Iran – most notably, a market for kidneys. According to the program, Iran is the only nation in the world that permits a person to sell one’s own kidney.

Two things about this stunned me. Most obviously, I was extremely surprised to hear that there is any semblance of a free market in Iran, never mind one that would permit organ sales. It’s a little hard to square this with a country that is so overtly contemptuous of Western ways – indeed, contemptuous of life itself. Nevertheless, it is apparently the case.

But also, I was surprised that the radio commentators did not dismiss the notion out of hand. Perhaps this represents progress. Previously, in the few times I have heard this topic brought up in mainstream channels, any hint of market principles pertaining to the distribution of organs has been met with shock and indignation, but on this program they seemed to treat an organ market as basically reasonable. (I must admit that I had trouble hearing the discussion fully because I was listening to it at work. However, I believe I got the gist of it accurately.) The commentators were rightly somewhat skeptical about any official news coming out of Iran, but they noted that Iran has reportedly “no waiting list for kidneys.”

Whether or not it is true, there is every reason to see that a free market would solve the organ shortage. While thousands of people in America die waiting helplessly for a kidney transplant to be bestowed upon them by an omnipotent bureaucrat, Iranians apparently live on, solving their problems the way civilized people do – as traders.

It is shameful for such a free market to be operating in Iran where it is not in the United States. If the story is even partially accurate, it represents another embarrassment to America. Like the Russian flat tax, it is an indication of the demise of liberty in this country that was once freedom’s greatest exponent.

(On a related note, I’m looking forward to Scott Powell’s class tonight, which is going to cover Iran.)