Why Human Beings and Bodies Should not be Traded as Commodities - Essay Example

Why Human Beings and Human Bodies should not be traded as Commodities in the Market Why Human Beings and Human Bodies should not be traded as Commodities in the Market Human beings are worthy creatures whose value cannot be evaluated and thus cannot be traded in the market. Human body parts should neither be traded because they combine to form the whole body of a human being. Human trade or trafficking is illegal and culprits should face tough legal measure due to their inhuman activities. The sale of human bodies makes them objects which are not the case. Human bodies are special organs which cannot be compared to objects and thus trade of human beings or their body parts should not be encouraged. This paper attempts to outline why human beings and human bodies cannot be used as commodities to be traded in the market. Human trafficking and sale of body organs are classified into different categories of trade of human beings and their bodies. One of the categories that can be outlined in sale of human body is kidney transplant or any transplant that can lead to deliverance of human life as it would lead to change in his health condition. This king of trade on human bodies is regarded fair by many people but there are still a number of people who believe that the practice is abhorrent and should be prohibited. Although the society harbors the aversion to activities conducted on corpse, it encourages and tolerates especially through legalization the transplant activities and forensic postmortems (Price, 2000, p. 32). The other kind of human trafficking and sale of human parts involves sale of certain body parts illegally or trading people for slaves where they are taken for hard labor, discrimination and sexual manipulation. This kind of human trade is unacceptable to many people and thus it is disregarded all over the world. The experts who participate in the transplant operations advice people to judge the two activities with sense of ethical measures. The element of choice is essential. However, when making choices, one must consider moral, humanitarian and social purpose of the choice and law (Gallagher, 2012, p. 7). For instance, sale of human bodies for other purpose like witchcraft, sexual activities, child labor, and other forms of discrimination should not be treated as sale of human organs or donation for transplant. One form of human trafficking that leads to discrimination on human beings is slavery and sexual manipulation. Discrimination can be described as unequal or unjust treatment of individuals or groups of people based on their human attributes. Discrimination may be differential treatment or disparate impact. This is witnessed where people are captured or sold for purpose of satisfying the body requirements of the buyer like through sexual engagement. Differential treatment encompasses unequal treatment of individuals where certain individuals believe that they are valuable that others and thus they treat them as their minors. Sale of humans for profits is an exploitative activity and also degrading where “it’s morally analogous to slavery” (Cherry, 2005, p. 4). Such human beings can be considered as incompatible with human values and dignity in life (Cherry, 2005, p. 4).   The first form of human body trade which involves transplant of body organs attracts various opinions from various groups of people around the world. There is a group of individuals who feel that the act should not be undertaken as it manipulates the original form of the body according to how it was meant to be through its creator. The argument of altruism of body donations holds a high value that it is likely to be preserved by law and there would be no harm for such (Wilkinson, 2011, p. 187). Christians believe that the moral status of the body does not allow transfer or sale of human organ from one place or person to the other. Although this claim has not been addressed directly in the Bible, they believe that it is immoral to put a price tag on a human being or the body parts. It is for this reason that they claim that the human body should remain as it was created and no other changes should be made on it. However, according to this claim, critics believe that the belief is baseless as the bible does not address the issues. Moreover it would seem morally right when a transplant is undertaken to save the life of one individual and the donor or seller survives also (Hamdy, 2012). In Christianity, it is believed that the body of a human being is essential as one should treat humanity as either for own body or the body of another person as an end but not as a means (Bratton, 2009, p. 48).     When trade on human or human bodies takes place, it reduces people to commodities or objects. This means that they human beings can be subjects of insurance, discounts, taxation since they become objects of trade in the market (Chia, 2009, p. 54). The aim of trading is making profits and traded in order for exchange with another object. In this regard, sale of human beings in order to get profits and exchange them with other commodities cannot be valid since the human body has no central value that can be attached to it. In the same way, there are no discounts, taxation or insurance value that can be attached to human beings or their bodies during trade (Chia, 2009, p. 54). The idea of trading human bodies must have a measure of value for each human being or different body parts. Human beings cannot be valued because there is no standard of measure that can be applied to determine the real value of a certain human being. Further, no one can be able to differentiate the value of one human being from the other. No matter how rich or intelligent a person may be, he cannot be compared with a person who is poor or disabled and no one should declare that the rich person is valuable that the poor person since all people are equal and their value is indefinable. Moreover, human beings are subject to challenges like diseases, accidents, death and other calamities which would really affect attachment of value to any human being as it would be difficult to determine how one would be sometime. Transplant and exchange of human body organs cannot be compared to sale of a commodity. All human beings are incomparable and they are priceless. Body organs cannot also be sold or have an attached value on them. For instance, someone who needs kidney for transplant cannot buy it because its value is unknown. Moreover, the kidney comes to play the role of supporting the whole body to play its functions since it’s an integral part of the human body. Although, the issue of donation for living organs may be a complex one, for the sake of charity, such people should be considered to ensure that the survive as they may be facing death this virtue should therefore be promoted by secular agencies as well as religious groups (Kanniyakonil, 2005, p. 302). Commodities are objects or goods that people are willing to sell at any time. It is precisely wrong for an individual to view himself as a commodity as commodities are routinely bought and sold in the market (Phillips, 2013, p. 5). Human beings are formed in a way that they cannot offer their body parts at will. The body is made whole by the fact that all body parts work together as a unit. This means that one has to suffer pain while removing one of the body parts for the sake of business. The body cannot be disjointed for the sake of business transaction unless on situation where another person requires an organ that can be transplanted from another person. People who have lost a certain organ in life through accident or amputation may attest that a single human organ is priceless and cannot be attached any value on it. It is difficult for one to bargain because he has no idea or knowledge on the value of that human being or body. In business and trade the aspect of exploitation and manipulation comes up which could be a challenge when trading for human being or human body. The sale of human beings is considered to be exploitative as well as degrading (Cherry, 2005, p. 4). One of the major factors that human life cannot be attached to any value is that there is no other creature in the world which has been created like a human being. Human beings possess attributes that no other creature or object possesses. Human beings have life, intelligence, ability to distinguish between all things in life and emotional aspects. These attributes makes human being a special creature that cannot be valued. These attributes are the ones that distinguish human beings from other objects and thus no one can relate trade of objects with trade of human beings. People also have different self which makes them distinguishable from other objects. Difference in self is in how a person responds to events in life, how he interacts with other creatures and other attributes such as emotions, instincts and senses. Moreover, a human being is made up of many attributes that may challenge any property evaluator to attach a price to each. The value of human being can be said to be sacred. The fact that a human being has self-awareness gives him value of life unlike other animals (Flynn, 2008, p. 351). In conclusion, the sale of human organs or human beings is a practice that is condemned over the globe. Although it involves two categories, generally people disregard the idea of transferring human organs from one person to the other. One of the main reasons that disputes trade of human organs and human organs is the fact human beings are special creatures that have been created with different attributes from other objects. Human body and organs cannot be valued because there is no standard of measurement for human organ or body. Therefore human trade or sale is not acceptable and should be outlawed. References Bratton, M. (2009). God, ethics and the human genome: Theological, legal and scientific perspectives. London, Church House Pub. Cherry, M. J. (2005). Kidney for sale by owner human organs, transplantation, and the market. Washington, Georgetown University Press. Retrieved http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=956369. Chia, R. 2009. The ethics of human organ trading. Singapore: Jointly published by Genesis Books and National Council of Churches of Singapore. Flynn, C. P. (2008). Social creatures: A human and animal studies reader. New York: Lantern Books. Gallagher, A. T. (2012). The international law of human trafficking. Cambridge [etc.], Cambridge University Press. Hamdy, S. (2012). Our bodies belong to God organ transplants, Islam, and the struggle for human dignity in Egypt. Berkeley, University of California Press. Retrieved http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=844029 Kanniyakonil, S. (2005). Living organ donation and transplantation: a medical, legal, and moral theological appraisal. Kottayam, Oriental Institute of Religious Studies India. Phillips, A. (2013). Our bodies, whose property? Princeton, Princeton University Press. Retrieved http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=543158 Price, D. P. T. (2000). Legal and ethical aspects of organ transplantation. Cambridge [u.a.], University Press. Wilkinson, T. M. (2011). Ethics and the acquisition of organs. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Read More