On the publication of the book, Les nouveaux marchés cannibales, mondialisation et marchandisation du corps humain, Jean-Daniel Rainhorn, Co-Editor and Professor of Health and Humanitarian Action at La Maison des sciences de l’homme (Human Sciences) in Paris and former Director of Credes (Centre de recherche et d’étude pour le développement de la santé – Research and Study Centre for Health Development) and Cerah (Centre d’enseignement et de recherche en action humanitaire – Centre for Teaching and Research into Humanitarian Action) explains, “These new markets in fact use the human body as a commodity and respond to the law of supply and demand”.
The collective work with its provocative title deals with the increase in the marketing of the human body and the role played by doctors in these new practices including surrogacy, organ trafficking, the marketing of biological products by biobanks and the recruitment by rich countries of healthcare professionals from developing countries.
These practices “imply that parts of the human body can be sold, purchased or rented out like any other merchandise. This begs fundamental questions on changes in the relationship between medicine and human beings”, he explained.
When asked about the title of the book, he stated that, “These markets make the poorest bodies serve the health and wellbeing of the wealthiest”. “We thought that the reference to cannibalism was relevant in the fields we studied to translate this appropriation of another person’s body in order to make a profit”.
Finally, “I wanted to pinpoint the area where medicine no longer treats human beings as human beings but as objects. This is a new type of servitude based on the proletariat of mankind as objects. I would like this to trigger outrage”.
Le Temps(Catherine Mary); 17/07/2015