February 5, 2005
University of California Mulls Barcodes to Identify Cadavers
Shaken by scandals involving the black-market sale of body parts, University of California officials are considering inserting RFID tags in cadavers to keep track of them, reports The Wall Street Journal.
"The high-tech fix is one of a number of reforms UC is proposing to reassure people that bodies donated to science will be used as intended and treated with respect.
Every year, thousands of bodies are donated to U.S. tissue banks and medical schools. Skin, bone and other tissue are often used in transplants. New medical treatments and safety equipment such as bicycle helmets are tested on various body parts. And cadavers are used to teach medical students surgical skills and anatomy.
But there is also a lucrative underground trade in corpses and body parts, despite federal laws against the sale of organs and tissue".
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