Within American society, our bodies belong purely to us.[i] We are not provided with health care by the state. We are given “choice” when it comes to how much we want to spend on our own health care. Women have the right to regulate their reproductive systems with whatever methods they see fit. When we die we don’t owe the state anything, just as when we are born the state provides each individual with very little. Our bodies are cared for through our own accord. Organs that are “donated” after an individual’s passing are given out of generosity and not by government mandate or financial compensation. But as the need arises, when it comes to our organs and other tissues we are rapidly transforming ourselves from natural beings into commodified objects of desire.[ii]
The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of 1968 was implemented in response to attempts that were made by brokerage firms seeking to profit from kidney sales.[iii] As technology and surgical practice have increasingly become more sophisticated, organ transplantation has become far more effective and common. The increase in commonality of transplant procedure has put the United States of America is in the midst of a serious organ shortage. Currently less than one third of those who are on transplant waiting lists receive the organs that they so desperately need. This amounts to about sixteen people dieing each day.[iv] “Proposals [for ending America’s organ shortage] now discussed frequently and openly at transplant events include offering donor kin a maximum $10,000 tax credit, a funeral expense supplement, a charitable donation credit, or a direct payment.”[v] Particularly in the case of direct payment, it is of real concern that by restructuring a system that has operated on charitable “donations” into a paying for organs system would create an exploitative culture that would routinely prey upon the poor.[vi]
“The marketability of the body is highly dependent on how parts are categorized medically, socially, and legally in this country.”[vii] Fluids that are produced with abundance, such as blood and semen, can be bought and sold at “banks”, but organs that cannot be “naturally” reproduced are understood as rare and precious goods and can only be given as “donations.”[viii] Arjun Appadurai argues that, “commodities, like persons have social lives,” and the social lives of organs have a very interesting story.[ix] “Whereas organ recipients speak of their experiences as a form of “rebirth,” surviving donor kin embrace the idea that the lost love one can live on in others.”[x] It is a common belief that the organ will carry qualities of an individual to the new owner.[xi] But what if the implant is not of human origin?
What marks the boundary between human and non-human?
To deal with today’s current organ shortage, science has devised two experimental trajectories for the production of organs destined for transplantation–one involves animals, the other biomechanical prototypes.[xii] Despite the fact that the majority of the research conducted in the field of organ transplant is working to develop more effective uses of animal organs, overwhelmingly society prefers bioengineered organ replacements as opposed to animal.[xiii] Not only is there concern that organs harvested from animals may contain pathogens that might jump the species line when introduced to individual human bodies,[xiv] but questions as to weather a human remains truly human if they harbor animal parts is a concern to many. “A frequently expressed concern is that the patient might take on the characteristic of the animal in question; when this is imagined, response ranges from a desire to cut short the conversation to a tendency to degenerate into ribald joking behavior.”[xv]
Is it fear of losing our humanity that drives many patients desire to have mechanical devices over animal?
Or more broadly, what defines our Humanity?
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, western culture has been unable to hide its love for machines. Some individuals have even replaced their animal companionship with machines. They certainly are much more predictable, take up less space, don’t induce allergies, and are much easier to care for. Where animal nature is unruly, unpredictable, and untamed, the machine is cultured and predictable since they are often times created in our own image. In an increasingly mechanized world many people see themselves as machines. “…Organ recipients are frequently encouraged by professionals to imagine their organs as replaceable parts, their bodies are similar to automobiles, and transplantation as an elaborate form of repair.”[xvi]
While warnings of relying too heavily on machines is a common theme in distopian film and literature, reality proves that overwhelmingly machines improve the quality of our lives and in some cases, even have the ability to love us in return. On the other hand, the half man half beast that is void of human culture, ethics, and sociability is a much more widely feared icon in popular culture and has been since our society’s classical origins. Beyond the realm of companionship, there is no room within our society for human animal coupling. Porcine and simian implants prove too threatening to the integrity of the body, the self, and society. If a person must loose their natural heart, let it be to machine, not an undersized pig. No recipient that I have encountered to date is willing to be debased by the beast.[xvii]
As we expand our increasingly sophisticated body of knowledge we have the ability to improve the quality of our lives and to hold death a bay.
When does life turn into something or purchase?
[i] Lesley A. Sharp, Bodies, Commodities, and Biotechnologies: Death, Mourning, and Scientific Desire in the Realm of Human Organ Transfer (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 48-49.
[ii] Sharp, 50-51.
[iii] Sharp, 54.
[iv] Sharp, 51.
[v] Sharp, 56.
[vi] Sharp, 56.
[vii] Sharp, 52.
[viii] Sharp, 51.
[ix] Sharp, 64.
[x] Sharp, 63.
[xi] Sharp, 68.
[xii] Sharp, 84.
[xiii] Sharp, 89.
[xiv] Sharp, 85
[xv] Sharp, 90.
[xvi] Sharp, 104.
[xvii] Sharp, 104.
Images Cited:
http://futurepredictions.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/robot_270x360.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b136/barefootbeachbum23/pro-choice-abortion-rights-northern.gif
http://northcoastcafe.typepad.com/north_coast_cafe/homeless.jpg
http://cosmos-liturgy-sex.com/2006/08/11/embryonic-fetal-and-post-natal-animal-human-mixtures/
http://www.zml.com/content/covers/147896_3.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAmPIr4pcNw
http://blogue.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/fembot02.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM5yepZ21pI
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/giant-r2-d2-plush/
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/religion/myths/pictures/minotaur.jpg