'Specimens': Shipping Container Full of Body Parts of Americans Discovered on HK-flagged Chinese Cargo Ship 'MedCure'

Shipping Container Full of Body Parts of Americans Discovered on Chinese Cargo Ship
Chris White February 9, 2018 https://www.westernjournal.com/shipping-container-full-of-body-parts-of-...

Exporting companies are using Chinese ships, planes, and trucks to transport dead Americans across the world for research purposes, according to a Thursday report from Reuters.

A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship departed South Carolina in July carrying 6,000 pounds of human remains valued at $67,204.

The container’s temperature was set at 5 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent the parts from spoiling. Relatives of the dead, meanwhile, did not realize their loved ones’ remains were being dismembered and sent to Europe and elsewhere, the report notes.

Body brokers like Oregon-based MedCure rely on lax regulations to export body parts of deceased individuals to Mexico, China, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, among several other countries.

“There are people who wouldn’t necessarily mind where the specimens were sent if they were fully informed,” Brandi Schmitt, who directs a body donation system at the University of California, told reporters about the trade, which is still shrouded in mystery. “But clearly there are plenty of donors that do mind and that don’t feel like they’re getting enough information.”

The FBI raided MedCure in November, which culminated in a federal investigation.

“MedCure is committed to meeting and exceeding the highest standards in the industry. It takes very seriously its obligation to not only deliver safe specimens securely, but to do it in a way that respects the donors,” said the company’s lawyer, Jeffrey Edelson, who declined to comment on the nature of the raid.

read Reuters report: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodies-export/