Patients given stolen body parts
Gerard Ryle
June 22, 2006/SMH
MEDICAL products made in the United States from stolen dead body parts have been brought to Australia and implanted into dozens of people.
Australia's medical watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) was last night trying urgently to contact 46 patients through their doctors to warn them of the developments.
The move came after evidence was presented to the watchdog that the material made from stolen human body parts had arrived in Australia.
The agency's own inquiries had previously failed to uncover the truth about the importation.
Among the people whose body tissue was illegally taken from funeral homes in the US was legendary BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke, who died in 2004.This contradicts US Food and Drug Administration recommendations that anyone who received the stolen tissue be tested for HIV, hepatitis C and syphilis.
The US watchdog determined that, in some instances, blood samples designed to ensure the tissue was disease-free had come from the wrong people.
In the US, recycling dead humans has become a billion-dollar business, according to documents submitted to regulatory authorities.
Hundreds of products derived from dead humans are now available. Gels made from human skin are injected to smooth wrinkles, puff up lips or even fatten penises. ... <cont>
]http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/06/21/1150845243659.html
