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Legal And Practical Consequences Of The Commercial Use Of Human Cells And Tissue, Sylvia Caley, L. Reinbacher, P. Strengers, B. Cohen

Sylvia B. Caley

With increasing frequency, human organs and tissues are being placed in the stream of commercial transactions to be treated as commodities. The transplant community, the media, and legislative bodies are following this commercial development with intense interest. The following three topics — the commercialization of biotechnology products, the media’s response to transplant activities, and the European Community’s (EC) development of policies and regulations concerning organ and tissue replacement therapy — highlight many of the ethical and legal concerns facing transplant medicine today. Preparation for the challenges of the future begins with honest appraisal and analysis of the evolution of ethical …