Suppliers of Human Bodies

Available for over a year

The laws of supply and demand work in every arena of human life and even, after death. There is a demand for human bodies, organs and tissues, for use by medical schools and by scientific companies. In America, there is a semi-commercial element to the supply of this demand. Not-for-profit companies offer financial support to families of the dead, arranging for the processing and transport of bodies or tissues, as well as final cremation. But is this a deeply sensitive area where business should not go? Lesley Curwen speaks to Michel Anteby, a Professor at Harvard University, who has done research into the companies offering these services, and to Brent Bardsley, executive vice president of Anatomy Gifts Registry, part of the not-for-profit Anatomic Gift Foundation. And Lucy Kellaway ponders on the awfulness of most business books.