UNOS Denys Mexican Report of Organ Trafficking Ring

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which manages the U.S. organ transplant network, issued a statement emphatically denying a recent news report from Mexico City of the break-up of an organ-trafficking ring that allegedly smuggled Central American children to the United States.

"The adoption or theft of foreign children to be murdered for their body parts does not take place in the U.S.," UNOS declared. "Working with the U.S. government, UNOS has tracked such reports since they first appeared in the mid-1980s. Every time the rumor has been investigated, not even the slightest evidence has ever been found to prove it to be true."

“These rumors are dangerous because people often believe in them,” said Esther Padilla, a kidney transplant recipient and member of the UNOS Board of Directors. “One of the main reasons people give for not wanting to be an organ donor after they die is the belief in a black market in human organs. Unfortunately, every day men, women and children are dying because there are not enough donated organs.”

Other sources: UNOS