Kathrine Frich
Behind the language of medical research and scientific progress, a hidden industry has been quietly expanding.
In the United States, a controversial trade in human remains has raised disturbing ethical questions about consent, profit and oversight.
For some families, the reality only emerged long after their loved ones had died.
A murky industry
The body brokering business involves acquiring corpses and selling whole bodies or individual parts for research, training and testing.
While body donation to science is common, brokering differs in that companies can profit from the process without families fully understanding what will happen next.
According to Reuters journalist Brian Grow, 25 body brokering companies were identified in the US in 2017.
The sector has since grown, with the market estimated to be worth around $1 billion in 2025.
Unlike in the UK, where for-profit body trading is illegal under the Human Tissue Act, the US industry remains lightly regulated.
Families left horrified
Farrah Fasold believed she was honouring her father’s wishes when she donated his body to medical science after he died of cancer in 2009.
Years later, she discovered his arm had been found in a barrel containing other human remains.
In another case, Kim Erick was told her son Chris died by suicide in 2012. She later recognised his body posed as “The Thinker” at a Las Vegas exhibition.
Such cases have fuelled criticism of a system that allows bodies to be dissected, sold and displayed without relatives’ knowledge.
Legal grey zones
The US Uniform Anatomical Gift Act bans the sale of human tissue but allows companies to charge “reasonable” fees for processing, storage and transport.
Critics say this loophole has enabled a profit-driven market to flourish.
Researcher Jenny Kleeman, author of The Price of Life, told The Sun the industry is “murky”.
She said that in the US, bodies can be supplied by people with no scientific background and sold internationally.
Kleeman found that one American company shipped body parts to more than 50 countries, including the UK.
A price list for remains
Internal documents reported by The Sun suggest that a whole human body can sell for up to £10,000 ($12,500), with individual parts priced separately.
A torso can fetch around £2,360 ($2,950), while a liver sells for £450 ($560) and a head for £370 ($460). Smaller items command lower prices, with arteries valued at £48 ($60) and fingernails at £5 ($6).
These firms describe themselves as “non-transplant tissue banks” and supply universities, medical schools, engineering companies and US military research programmes.
Sources: Reuters, The Sun, Ladbible.
