Home Advocacy Current Legislation Body Broker Bill

Protect the Dignity of Those Who Donate Their Bodies for Medical Research and Give Peace of Mind to Families

When a family chooses to donate a loved one’s body for education or research, they do so with the hope that they will help others. Regrettably, many are unknowingly contributing to a for-profit industry in which the body of their loved one could be traded as raw material in a largely unregulated national market. When the 118th Congress introduces the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act (CDRI Act), which has the full support of NFDA, it wil be taking a significant step toward protecting the dignity of donors and offering peace of mind to families.

Impact on Families

A broker in Detroit sold and rented body parts infected with HIV and hepatitis … another sold body parts for use in U.S. Army blast experiments … another left bodies and body parts to decompose due to improper storage … another dissected donor bodies with a chainsaw. These are just a few of the stories detailed in an article published by Reuters, detailing the devastating impact of body brokers.

Hear about the impact of body brokers from donor families in these news stories:

WBBM-TV Chicago

KING-TV

WPMT-TV

Reuters Expose on Body Brokers

Other Media Coverage

The Solution

The solution to the heartbreak experienced by too many families is the Consensual Donation & Research Integrity Act, which will protect the dignity of donors and give families peace of mind by creating standards for registration; inspection; chain of custody; labeling and packaging; and proper disposition. NFDA hopes to see the 118th Congress will introduce this bill soon. 

Learn more about the solution contained in the Consensual Donation & Research Integrity Act, the devastation caused by body brokers and the difference between donation for transplantation and whole-body donation.

Download the Guide to the CDRI Act

NFDA strongly urges the Senate and House of Representatives to introduce and pass the Consensual Donation & Research Integrity Act and provide long-overdue accountability and transparency to the whole-body donation process and ensure donors’ bodies are treated with dignity and respect at all times. The families of donors deserve peace of mind, knowing their loved one’s body will make a difference.

Have Questions?

If you have questions about the CDRI Act, please contact NFDA Senior Vice President, Advocacy, Lesley Witter at lwitter@nfda.org. 

News Coverage & Bill Status

Listen

Listen to an episode of the NFDA podcast, A Brush With Death, from July 2021 to learn more about body brokers and the CDRI Act. 

“It’s hard to imagine, in this day and age, that whole body donation isn’t regulated. What’s even harder to hear are the stories from families that have experienced heartbreak and grief when they discovered the bodies of their loved ones has been desecrated and sold – sometimes repeatedly – by body brokers. NFDA and its members strongly urge the Senate and House to pass the CDRI Act and provide long-overdue accountability and transparency to the whole-body donation process. This will help ensure donors’ bodies are treated with dignity and respect at all times.”

2021-22 NFDA President Randall P. “Randy” Anderson, CFSP, CCO.
Alexander City, AL

The heinous acts committed by body brokers have deeply impacted the families I serve in my home state of Arizona. The anguish body brokers have caused must be stopped. I am proud that NFDA is taking on this important issue and ask my fellow members to join me in fighting for the dignity of those we serve. NFDA will be giving us the tools we need to reach out and lobby our members of Congress. With your help, we can get the CDRI Act passed.

NFDA member Hillary Adair
 Williams, Arizona