A strange border dispute with Slovakia involving x-raying all railway cargo coming from Ukraine ended on Aug.19; Der Spiegel exposes a Bavarian company trading in body parts from Ukrainian corpses.
Gruesome headlines once again for Ukraine
The Local, an English-language German newspaper, carried an Aug. 25 report (http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090825-21479.html) that Tutogen Medical GmbH, a Bavarian company that specialized in human tissue implants, is being investigated by state prosecutors for illegally trading in body parts from Ukrainian corpses.
The newspaper said the German news magazine Der Spiegel “revealed 1,000 pages of internal company documents detailing the lucrative business for body parts, reporting that family members were often not aware of what would happen to their loved ones after they died.” The magazine also “reported that in addition to being under investigation by state authorities, the company had dealings with a notorious U.S. citizen jailed in 2008 for illegally harvesting human organs.”
Between 2000-2001, some 1,152 Ukrainian bodies were used to make tissue implant products that were sold mainly to the United States in what has become a billion-dollar industry, according to Der Speigel. One body can be harvested for up to $250,000 in prepared parts.
A regional prosecutor said a criminal investigation had been opened into desecration of the dead and illegal human tissue trade. The Tutogen company denied the accusations, calling them “weak and incomprehensible” and insisting it adheres strictly to medical laws. “The tissue removal from a deceased donor is documented in detail and takes place with respect to all ethical principles of the donor and their family.”
Smuggling behind spat on Slovakian border?
A strange border dispute was reported by the Spectator, an English-language newspaper in Slovakia, on Aug. 20. According to the article, (http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/36268/10/cargo transport_from_ukraine_resumed_yesterday_at1825.html), cargo transport resumed Aug. 19 after a two-day halt by state-run Ukrainian Railways.
“Ukrainian railways approved the resumption of trains moving across the border after Slovakia decided to switch off an x-ray scanning facility at Uћhorod-Matovce,” the newspaper reported. “The state-run Ukrainian Railways stopped cargo transport via a unilateral decision at the crossing on Aug. 17. The Ukrainians said the reason was that the scanner operated by Slovakia’s Customs Administration allegedly poses a threat to the health of railway crew members.”
However, citing “local media” speculation, the newspaper wrote that mafia organizations involved in smuggling are behind the action of the Ukrainian railway company because the scanning device can detect attempts to smuggle goods like cigarettes, alcohol and other products across the border.
A dozen cargo trains use the railway border crossing daily. Resumption of cross-border traffic came after U.S. Steel Kosice put pressure on the two nations. U.S. Steel Kosice employs 12,000 people in eastern Slovakia.
