Body brokers : inside America's underground trade in human remains

Summary: Every year some 30% of American corpses are cremated. And as journalist Annie Cheney discovered, no one keeps track of them before they reach their final destination. While the government has tight controls on organs and tissue meant for transplantation, there are other uses for cadavers that receive no oversight whatsoever: parts are used in commercial seminars to introduce new medical gadgetry; torsos are used for surgery practice; bodies are bought by the Army for land-mine tests. A single corpse can generate up to $100,000. Dead bodies, it turns out, are a billion-dollar business. And when there's that much money to be made without regulation, there are all sorts of shady characters employing questionable practices. Body parts are shipped via FedEx or driven cross-country packed in coolers, and the deceased's families are usually entirely unaware. This book will make you look at death in a whole new way.--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 0767917340
ISBN: 9780767917346
Physical Description: xiv, 205 pages ; 21 cm
print
Edition: First paperback edition.
Publisher: New York : Broadway Books, [2006]
Copyright: ©2006

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-205).
Formatted Contents Note:	The main characters -- Human price list -- Introduction -- 1. Wilderness -- 2. An ideal situation -- 3. The "toolers" -- 4. "As soon as you die, you're mine" -- 5. The resurrection men -- 6. "Brokered sounds bad, doesn't it?" -- 7. The bone machine.