Legalization of human organ sales urged.

In an op-ed for the New York Times (12/6, Subscription Publication), Alexander Berger, a research analyst for GiveWell, a nonprofit that researches charities to help donors decide where to give, argues that Congress should legalize the sale of internal organs. Berger, who will donate one of his kidneys this week, argues that more than 34,000 joined waiting lists for kidney donations in 2010, but only 17,000 received one. Congress banned compensation to kidney donors in 1984, fearing "that a rich tycoon could take advantage of someone desperately poor and persuade that person to sell an organ for a pittance," but "the truth is that the victims of the current ban are disproportionately African-American and poor." Berger concludes that the "only way to really change the terms of the debate and end the waiting lists is to end the ban on compensation and create a legal market for kidneys."

        In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (12/6, Subscription Publication), Dr. Sally Satel of the American Enterprise Institute writes of a unanimous ruling last week by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that bone-marrow donors may be compensated. Satel, who helped submit an amicus brief in the case, lauds the court for rejecting the Justice Department position that obtaining bone-marrow stems cells violates the federal ban on paying for organs. Satel argues that the ruling should spark a national dialogue on the issue of compensation for organ donors.