VOA常速英语2008年-Illegal Human Kidney Trade Thrives in India

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
14 February 2008

Indian authorities are investigating a large-scale illegal organ transplant ring that involves removing kidneys from poor people and selling them to rich Indians and foreigners. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi that a thriving illegal trade in human kidneys has existed in India for at least a decade.

 

Few suspected what had been going on in a number of nursing homes and residential¹ apartments in Gurgaon, a posh Delhi suburb, until police broke up an illegal kidney racket there.

 

Police say over the last decade, a group of doctors operating out of Gurgaon removed kidneys from at least 500 poor migrants and sold them to wealthy clients - both Indians and foreigners.

 

Initial investigations² show the laborers³ received about $1,250 for their kidneys. The organs were re-sold for up to $50,000. The network involved a group of doctors, nurses, pathology clinics and hospitals.

 

While this is the most extensive ring of its kind to come to light in India, it is not the only one.

 

India outlawed⁴ trade in human organs in 1994. Kidney transplants are allowed only if the organ is donated by a blood relative or a spouse⁵.

 

But several cases have been exposed in recent years of doctors selling kidneys taken from poor people.

 

The editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics⁶, Doctor George Thomas, says the illegal kidney trade is fueled by rampant⁷ poverty and a long line of patients seeking transplants.

 

"There is very little regulation of what is going on in medical care in India, and when there is a situation where both patient and the donor⁸, both think they have something to gain, then there is very little chance of anything going wrong when they undertake the activity of removing the kidney without legal sanction," he said. "The problem is that on the one side there is tremendous poverty, on the other side desperation on the part of people who need the organ."

 

In the Gurgaon case, most donors⁹ said they had been forced to have their kidneys removed. Some said they were lured¹¹ to the city from smaller towns by promises of jobs then whisked away to guarded homes, where the operations took place.

 

Experts, however, say the likelihood is that these poor people sold their organs, but will not admit to it for fear of prosecution¹².

 

The modus operandi (operational method) of the trade is simple. Touts¹³ and middlemen scout¹⁴ small towns and city slums, and lure¹⁰ people in need of money.

 

Apparently¹⁵ finding poor organ donors is not difficult. The southern city of Chennai, which suffered major damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami¹⁶, has the reputation of being a major hub for kidney trafficking. A study conducted by the anti-poverty organization Action Aid showed how widespread the practice is there.

 

Action Aid's Annie Thomas says the group found that as many as 36 people among the 2000 families housed in just one resettlement colony had sold their kidneys. She says they were victims of the tsunami, and had a pressing need for money.

 

"Their livelihoods¹⁷ they had lost, and whatever they had, their earnings¹⁸ or their belongings¹⁹, they had lost. They had already taken some money from moneylenders, or they had some health issues," she explained. 

 

Doctors say that the kidney trade can only be curbed²⁰ by increasing the number of legal donors to bridge the gap between demand and supply. An estimated 100,000 Indians are diagnosed with renal (kidney) failure every year - mainly due to the high number of people suffering from diabetes²¹ and high blood pressure.

 

A kidney transplant surgeon, Sunil Shroff, has founded the non-profit Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network, a group that promotes organ donation.

 

He says that at the moment, only one body per two million people is donated for organ transplants - far fewer than in most other countries.

 

"We have a very low donation rate because there is no awareness²² about this program in this country, so what it means is we have a lot of brain-dead patients who could be potential donors," he said. "We need to push up this rate of donation."

 

Until that happens, the combination of unscrupulous doctors and teeming²³ slums will continue to supply the illegal kidney trade.

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

3 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

4 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

5 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

6 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

7 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

8 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

9 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

11 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

12 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

13 touts   

n.招徕( tout的名词复数 )；（音乐会、体育比赛等的）卖高价票的人；侦查者；探听赛马的情报v.兜售( tout的第三人称单数 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• Many vouchers are returned for cash, allowing touts and middle men to make a healthy margin. 许多月饼券都被兑换成现金，这让券贩子和中间商赚取了不蜚的利润。 来自互联网
• Spotting prey, the customary crowd of hustlers and touts swarmed around, jostling for my business. 照例有大群的拉客黄牛在寻觅猎物，他们争相过来抢我的生意。 来自互联网

14 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

15 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

16 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

17 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

18 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

19 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

20 curbed   

v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Advertising aimed at children should be curbed. 针对儿童的广告应受到限制。 来自辞典例句
• Inflation needs to be curbed in Russia. 俄罗斯需要抑制通货膨胀。 来自辞典例句

21 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

22 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

23 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道