By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Investigators are trying to determine if a box of human heads found on a Southwest Airline flight last week could be part of a black market for human body parts.
NBC-Dallas Fort Worth is reporting that a Southwest Airlines employee in Little Rock, Arkansas found a package containing 40 to 60 human heads destined for a medical research company in Fort Worth. A spokesman for the airline said local police were called after they discovered the container, which was not properly labeled or packaged.
Little Rock police turned the heads over to the county coroner who is questioning where they came from and if they were properly obtained.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that there is a black market out there for human body parts for research or for whatever reason,” said Pulaski County coroner Garland Camper. “We just want to make sure these specimens here aren’t a part of that black market and underground trade.”
NBC reports that the heads were being transported to the Fort Worth office of Medtronic, a leading medical research and technology company based in Minnesota. A spokesman for Medtronic, Brian Henry, said that while it is common for body parts destined for research or medical education to be shipped in this way, it is rare to have a package seized.
“We expect our suppliers to follow proper procedures,” he said.
The package originated with JLS Consulting of Wynne, Arkansas, a firm whose license was revoked in December, 2009. Company founder Janice Hepler did not return phone calls, but in an earlier interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, she blamed the problem on the private courier she had hired to transport the body parts.
“Nothing is wrong,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “We’re providing the documentation.”
However, the coroner said the paperwork has “discrepancies.”
Federal law generally prohibits the sale of human body parts, NBC reports, but allows suppliers to be reimbursed for expenses in cases of legitimate medical education or research.
“It is a lucrative business. There is money to be made,” Camper said. “We’re hoping that this isn’t the case.”
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