10 Shockingly Profitable and
We’ve all heard of the black market, but we only have a vague understanding of what’s on its shelves. While most aren’t surprised that illegal traders don’t conduct shady deals for a gallon of milk, some of the most profitable world trades may shock you. These ten money-spinning world trades are not what you might expect.
6. Sperm
In recent years, the internet has exploded with sperm buyers and sellers. While this may seem rather harmless, legal sperm donors are evaluated against several requirements designed to minimize the chance of a birth defect or hereditary disease, while the traders on the internet require no medical test. “… The recipients have absolutely no way of knowing what they’re getting. Not to mention the thousands of infectious diseases that can be transmitted through human sperm, which is really the scary part” (Listverse).
4. Bear Gall Bladders
Despite the fact that it has been scientifically proven that it has no benefits, the gall bladders of black bears –and the bile- have been used as medicine in Asia from generation to generation. “…it has been definitively proven by medical science to have no medicinal properties whatsoever. In spite of that, the illegal trade in this product continues” (Listverse). The bears are poached in masses, and sometimes kept in illegal ‘bear farms-’ a waking nightmare. Bears are kept in small stalls, fed irregularly and not allowed to hibernate; they are continually surgically “milked” for the bile for a period of time before being killed to extract the gall bladder.” Every year, on average, 2 billion dollars are made off these bears’ suffering (Listverse).
9. Timber
9. Timber
The trade in timber hits the world hard in many different ways –habitat loss, monetary loss, effects on climate change, etc. - but there is one other way that may shock you. Illegal traders in timber and drug traffickers -the ‘Odd Couple’ of the black market- have teamed up to increase their efficiency when transferring their illegal cargo. Yes, illegal drugs are now being concealed in the thick trunks of massive trees (Listverse). You can’t say these drug smugglers aren’t original.
8. Human Organs
Human organs are a very profitable commodity in the illegal trade industry. They prey on desperate and destitute people, paying them as little as $5,000 for their kidney, and then the traders sell the organ for thousands more to equally desperate people in need of a life-saving organ donor (Listverse). Some victims don’t know their organs are being taken. “While many people willingly give up organs for cash, many other are scammed or forced into the procedure, or made to undergo unnecessary surgeries during which the organs are extracted without their knowledge” (Listverse). This multi-billion dollar industry, according to Listverse, performs 10,000 surgeries every year.
3. Caviar
A popular dish of the rich and famous, caviar has a big presence in the Black Market. They are actually eggs of the ancient Sturgeon, who shared the world with the dinosaurs, and now their population is declining rapidly. It is illegal to acquire Sturgeon eggs from the wild –legal caviar is produced on a legitimate Sturgeon farm- although, as we have learned, environmental protection laws are extremely lax. “A global ban on wild caviar (as opposed to farmed) in the mid ’00s failed to have the desired effect of protecting the population, and may actually have spurred increased black market activity. In 2006, the Pew Institute for Ocean Science called the sturgeon ‘the most vulnerable wildlife resource in the world’” (Listverse).
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10. Primates
Monkeys are carted around the world to fulfill many supposed ‘needs’ of mankind. Their uses range from test subjects for scientific research to becoming a famous pet in another pop singer’s menagerie. Currently, 1,000 of primates are brought to America lawfully, but 3,000 more apes are poached and sold. Poaching is illegal, but primates are traded ‘legally’ under a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in regards to how they were acquired (Listverse). The illegal primate trade has contributed to the decline of their worldwide population; 30% of primate species are endangered (All the World’s Primates).
2. Alcohol
Alcohol is illegal in some Middle Eastern countries, and, in other nations, it is strictly regulated. In Iraq lashes are part of the punishment if you are caught with alcohol. Many in the illegal liquor trade find that receiving lashes isn’t enough of a threat because this illegal trade is blossoming. “[The Illegal Liquor Trade is] So strong that Iranian factories that produce rubbing alcohol were actually forced by the government to spike it with a substance that renders it almost too bitter to drink—proving that, yes, people all over the world will take amazing risks just to get drunk” (Listverse).
From oddly creative to terribly disgusting, these illegal businesses exist and thrive in our world today. Millions of people are rich from them, and even more people and animals are victims. This is only a glimpse of what’s lined up on the black market’s shelves. It is a dark and seedy world, where only one motto overpowers all else:
greed can exploit anything.
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