Worldwide there are different forms of organ theft reported. These cases
have in common that they are scattered in various countries and regions.
In some countries reports say that organs were removed from homeless
people, in other cases those "donors" were offered a refund of a couple
hundred dollars in exchange for a kidney donation. All of these cases are questionable and dubious. If these cases are related to living donors they
are limited to donations of a second kidney.

However none of these documented reports about organ theft has ever
aroused any suspicion that there would exist a nationwide, state sanctioned, systematic organ theft from living people. The extent of organ harvesting
in China as described by witnesses, by publicly accessible data about transplantations in China and by the Kilgour & Matas Report is unprecedented.
The data collected by Kilgour & Matas depicts a transplantation-on-demand-
system. The latter carries the potential to enhance transplant tourism to China.

In contrast to the totalitarian regime in China most of the democratic
governments of the affected countries that have encountered such forms of
organ thefts have taken steps to stop these degenerated forms of organ
supply.

However there may be forms of criminal syndicates that continue to organize
organ thefts. These criminal organizations may use systematic methods of
organ theft with parallels to the systematic organ harvesting in China, but
without involvement of the government.

Nancy Scheper-Hughes, medical anthropologist and director of Organs Watch,
a UC Berkeley-based documentation and research project is one of the
pioneers to stop these practices. Transplant tourism involving trafficked living
organ donors is increasingly common in a world where, she says, cadaver
organs are scarce, while desperately poor people are plentiful and "available." Transplant patients can now buy a "fresh" kidney from a stranger if they have enough cash, health insurance and the right connections to organs brokers.
They also have to be willing to break the laws against buying and selling human
body parts and be willing to travel to distant lands.