Modest reforms to the present system of the giving of body parts for therapy and research are being put on the table (for example, by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority). These potentially presage a move to a system where (greater) material incentives could be offered in the future (and this is certainly how such initial reforms will be perceived by objectors). At present, however, the diverse rationales for constraints on both payments being offered in themselves, and to specific levels of payments, are both confused and consistently conflated. Greater clarity in the application of both concepts and terminology will provide a sounder foundation for deliberation of potential reforms in areas where demand is pressing and substantial suffering very real.
Keywords: Akrasia; Commerce; Exploitation; Gametes; Incentives; Organs.