Who would have thought? Doctors have actually transplanted a kidney from a pig to a human, and the operation appears to have been successful (not for a pig; for a human!). The patient is helped by this transplant and his body did not reject the kidney he received as it was initially feared.
One would have thought that the first choice for this type of material from animals would have been a gorilla, or a chimpanzee, as they are genetically closer to us than our pig cousins, but doctors knew better than that.
This raises an obvious question: Why do we need to turn to pigs, of all animals, when we homo sapiens all have two of these organs and need one of them to function satisfactorily. After all, we members of our species are more closely related, biologically, than any other animal, such as Porky Pig and his mates.
Why should we turn to pigs? This is because there are not enough human organ donors, given the huge number of people who need such transplants. About 90,000 patients are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant in the US alone. They must suffer, while in line, in the kidney cleaning machines, the lowest place. And then, why is this? This is because the law prohibits any token payments to donors. Young people riding donor mobiles (motorcycles) enter the grave with intact kidneys while others enter before their time due to lack of the same; because of this cruel, evil, evil zero-sum law, the two are not allowed to meet.
One of the reasons for this sad state of affairs is that left-wing ethicists have successfully championed the idea that human organs cannot simply be “purchased.” Why not? Who knows? Well everything else under the sun can be bought and sold but transferring an organ for profit is beyond the pale.
Another proof of this deadly situation is that if the market for this economic benefit is allowed, kidney robbers will appear, who will steal these organs from innocent people and sell them to others. But the current black market price is higher than it would be under economic freedom. How do we know this? Logic and an Economics 101 level of knowledge of supply and demand will show this conclusion: currently, supply is much less than it would be if sales were allowed, and the less quantity there is, the higher the price will be.
A third explanation for the current situation is the fear that the poor, especially in third world countries, will become patrons, to be paid. But this is paternalism, pure and simple. It is an unnecessary condescension to imperialist colonialists in the first world. If these people in underdeveloped countries participate in voluntary trade, it is because they value the money they get more than the body part they have to give up. Who are the socialists and regulatory interventionists to say no?
No, the cause of justice requires that people be allowed to buy and sell whatever they wish to buy and sell.
Let’s leave the pigs to the bacon and let free enterprise reign in this small but very important sector of the economy. As it should be in our commercial system.
Walter E. Block is the Harold E. Wirth Distinguished Scholar Chair and Professor of Economics at Loyola University in New Orleans.
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