Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences (LML) Podcast · Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

Repugnant transactions and taboo trades: The Baron de Lancey Lecture 2025

·43 min·4 clips
Kravick argues wealthy nations should pay plasma donors directly and trade with poorer countries, bluntly stating: if paid plasma is unsafe, stop importing it.
Professor Kimberley Kravick delivers an academic lecture examining the ethical and legal dilemmas of 'repugnant transactions'—exchanges considered acceptable when free but corrupted by money. She focuses on three key areas: the global plasma supply, which relies heavily on paid donors despite official policies against remuneration; international kidney exchange programs that challenge notions of self-sufficiency; and the cautious debate around incentives for whole blood donation.

As heard by us

A careful lecture on the moral boundaries of markets, and why some taboos deserve a harder look.

This lecture takes a hard, unsentimental look at where markets should end and law should intervene, using plasma and organ trade to test the line between exchange and restraint.

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Why you'd press play

You want a rigorous case for rethinking taboo trades.

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