In 1984 the United States government established the Organ Transplant Act banning the selling of organ and tissue. And while arguments can be made as to the ethics of profiting off solid organs, the argument of profiting off bone marrow presents a murkier case. In an opinion piece appearing in the Sun News, George Mason University professor, Walter Williams argues bone marrow donation should be removed from the legislation.

“Bone marrow transplantation is a relatively new medical procedure that is used to treat diseases once thought incurable such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, Hodgkin’s disease, immune deficiency disorders and some solid tumors such as breast and ovarian cancer. Every year, at least 1,000 Americans die and others suffer because they cannot find a matching bone marrow donor. The reason why there is a shortage of donors is the National Organ Transplant Act, enacted by Congress in 1984. NOTA makes it illegal to give anything of value in exchange for bone marrow and that includes giving a college student a scholarship or a new homeowner a mortgage payment. Everyone involved in such a transaction — doctors, nurses, donors and patients — risks up to five years in a federal penitentiary.”

Williams goes on to say there may be “light at the end of the tunnel,” after a suit was filed in October against Congress.

“The Institute for Justice is not challenging Congress’ ban on compensation for solid organs such as hearts, kidneys and livers. Instead, the lawsuit challenges only the provision of National Organ Transplant Act that bans compensation for bone marrow. The premise of the Institute for Justice’s legal challenge is that there is a fundamental biological distinction between renewable marrow cells and nonrenewable solid organs. In the case of bone marrow, the donor’s bone marrow is completely replenished in a few weeks. That’s less time than it takes for the human body to fully replenish a pint of donated blood.”

I agree the Transplant Act needs to be reformed. As noted by Williams, bone marrow is more like blood than any solid organ. It’s liquid, it replenishes itself , and holds little monetary value—-we aren’t going to be reading about the bone marrow ‘black market’ anytime soon.

If more people will register with the National Donor program, for a free T-shirt of Appleebees gift card, fine. But I would argue it’s not that simple. When talking to recent registerees they most often say they’ve decided to join  for two reasons: (1)they knew someone in need, and therefore became informed that there are a lot of people in need, (2) They were under the impression joining the marrow registry was a terrifying process, and being a donor would be a their worst nightmare—-tubes, long hospital stays, unfathomable, unrelenting pain—but learned otherwise from a friend, newspaper article, etc. The common link between these two sets of people is they joined due to increased awareness. If more members of the national registry is our goal than let’s start there, by letting people know(loudly) that there is a need. If this process has taught me anything it’s most people want to be generous, often to0 much so, but first they must understand there is a problem and that they can be a part of the solution.

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