The federal government is investigating the trafficking of human body parts in the cities of Detroit and Chicago.
At the center of the investigation are the Biological Resource Center of Illinois and International Biological in Detroit. Authorities said the companies diverted bodies donated for medical research to a thriving black market for body parts.
When FBI agents and investigators from the Centers for Disease Control raided two crematories operated by Cremation Services Inc., in a Chicago suburb, they found hundreds of body parts that were destined to be sold.
The raid was part of a year-long national investigation that started in Detroit where thousands of body parts that were to be embalmed, instead were kept on ice to be allegedly sold to the Biological Resource Center. Investigators in hazmat suits removed body bags stuffed with human heads, limbs and other body parts that had been donated to the facility.
Biological Resource Center operates as a facilitator for families who wish to donate a body for medical research.
There is a fear that some of the bodies donated and then sold, may be from diseased cadavers and therefore pose a significant public health risk. These body parts are not only used in the United States but are also sold on the international market.
The investigation is ongoing and has reaches into several states.
