![](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2014/01/920-skin-bone.jpg)
![](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2014/01/920-skin-bone.jpg)
An ICIJ Investigation
Skin and Bone
Recycling dead humans into medical implants is a lucrative trade, rousing concerns about how tissues are obtained.
![](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2014/01/920-skin-bone.jpg)
- Consent: There have been repeated allegations in Ukraine that human tissue was removed from the dead without proper consent. Some of that tissue may have reached other countries, via Germany, and may now be implanted in hospital patients.
- Safety: Surgeons are not always required to tell patients they are receiving products made of human tissue, making it less likely a patient would associate subsequent infection with that product.
- Tracking: The U.S. is the world's biggest trader of products from human tissue, but authorities there don’t seem to know how much tissue is imported, where it comes from, or where it subsequently goes.
IMPACT
![When skin is meshed, it doubles its size and surface area as a surgical covering](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2017/10/630skinmesh.jpg)
Mar 12, 2013
How our investigation produced results
![Human skin in use as a skin graft at Queen Astrid Military Hospital in Brussels](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2017/10/630skingraft_2.jpg)
Jan 04, 2013
Medical Journal Warns on Human Tissue Trade
![Prosecutors allege the Ivano-Frankovsk morgue’s deputy director, three coroners and a nurse deceived families into signing consent forms before tissue was obtained from corpses](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2017/10/630ukrainemorgue.jpg)
Dec 21, 2012
Five Charged Over Alleged Body Parts Theft
![Photographs allegedly taken inside NIK1 morgue in southern Ukraine by funeral home owner Dmytro Smyrnov after he grew suspicious of the morgue's activities](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2017/10/630morguephotos_1.jpg)
Oct 09, 2012
Ukraine Morgue Official Charged
![Human skin in use as a skin graft at Queen Astrid Military Hospital in Brussels](https://media.icij.org/uploads/2017/10/630skingraft_0.jpg)