True Crime: Illegal markets have great variety (PNAS)

 The forthcoming issue of PNAS (August 18, 2026 | vol. 123 | no. 33) has a big set of papers on illegal markets, with the goal of searching for common features, which turn out to be somewhat elusive.

Research ArticleAugust 10, 2026

A budding science of illegal markets

Illegal markets create untold societal and environmental harm, but they have attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention. This paper explores illegal markets as a class of objects. It considers similarities and differences across markets, with ...

• Jonathan P. Caulkins

"The raw material for these comparisons mostly comes from the February 2025 Policy and Research on Illegal Markets (PRIM) workshop held at RAND in Santa Monica. The workshop convened 17 experts on nine specific markets, or types of markets. They wrote the market-specific papers contained within this volume."  

Research ArticleAugust 10, 2026

Stability and turbulence in illegal drug markets

This article provides a primer on illegal drug markets, with a focus on the structure and nature of these markets and the enterprises involved. The markets for illegal drugs are large, with annual retail expenditures likely exceeding $100 billion in the ...

• Beau Kilmer
• 
  

IntroductionAugust 10, 2026

Illegal markets: An important domain for applied science

• Jonathan P. Caulkins,
• Beau Kilmer and
• Peter Reuter

"One premise of this special issue is that illegal markets and the supply chains that support them are a worthy topic of scientific inquiry. That turns out to be a novel claim. Illegal markets have simply not been a major topic of interest to economists, the discipline that would most plausibly study them. For example, Nobel laureate Alvin Roth, in his magisterial review of markets and market design, describes illegal markets but offers no specific analytic insights about them (2[A. E. Roth, Marketplaces, markets, and market design. Am. Econ. Rev. 108, 1609–1658 (2018).]). Gary Becker, one of the giants of microeconomics, wrote occasionally about drug markets but forced on them the presumption that they were analytically no different than legal markets (e.g., ref. 3). 

Research ArticleAugust 10, 2026

How illegal wildlife trade adheres to and defies conventional market behavior

Illegal wildlife markets comprise a complex global economy generating criminal profits while harming biodiversity and livelihoods. The negative externalities from biodiversity loss, ecosystem destabilization, and zoonotic disease risk may be orders of ...

• Greg Midgette and
• Meredith L. Gore

"At least since the third century BCE, when the Edicts of Ashoka prohibited the killing of animals with aesthetic value on the Indian subcontinent, wildlife has been trapped, harvested, and sold in contravention of laws (1). " 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

Illegal firearms markets: Transaction patterns, evolving sources, and importance in criminal misuse

In the United States, the legal status of the 30 to 40 million annual firearms transactions is defined by state and federal regulations. These regulations primarily aim to reduce criminal misuse while preserving access for the large majority of adults who ...

• Philip J. Cook and
• Rosanna Smart

"Illegal transactions in firearms are often embedded in the much larger formal and informal markets, simply because sellers cannot easily distinguish between legal and illegal buyers even if they are motivated to do so. As one analogy, illegal firearms transactions look less like the market for heroin, where everyone involved knows the illegality of their transaction, than that for diverted pharmaceuticals." 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

The market for human smuggling: Structure, mechanisms, and paradoxes

Human smuggling is the facilitation of unlawful cross-border movement. It is primarily a commercial activity, offered as a service to willing, paying customers, and a large-scale market catering to millions seeking to circumvent mobility restrictions. ...

• Paolo Campana

"The terms human smuggling and human trafficking are often confused, but they represent two very different phenomena, albeit potentially occurring in the same places and populations. While a victim of trafficking and a genuine client of a smuggler might find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder in the same inflatable boat, thus sharing the same means to cross the same border, smuggling and trafficking remain distinct—both analytically and legally. In the case of smuggling, the service provided is the illegal entry into a country—and a migrant enters into the transaction with a smuggler voluntarily (1). Some may have few options other than to migrate, and in that sense be forced to migrate, but they are not forced into that action by an individual or organization selling them the smuggling service. The relationship between a migrant and a smuggler terminates when the former has reached the agreed destination and paid the latter the agreed sum. On the other hand, the purpose of trafficking is obtaining control over a person for exploitation, including sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, or domestic servitude (2).† Victims of human trafficking may enter a country through legal channels, and in some cases, trafficking takes place wholly within national borders." 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

The money laundering market: An economic analysis

Criminals launder their proceeds from crime, either themselves or by paying a professional, to disguise the link between the criminal, the crime, and the proceeds. This allows the criminal to spend the proceeds more freely and lowers the chance of ...

• Joras Ferwerda

"Since the goal of money laundering is to go unnoticed or to be seen as some other form of legitimate transaction, it is, by nature, difficult to provide credible estimates of how big the problem is. Moreover, the purchase of laundering services is generally a consensual crime: Both parties voluntarily enter into the transaction. Consensual crimes lack a direct victim to report the crime, which means the crime is revealed only when it is actively investigated.
There are a number of estimates of the volume of money laundering. These range in credibility; some lack empirical backup altogether [e.g., the widely quoted International Monetary Fund estimate of 2 to 5% of global GDP (3)]..." 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

Casting light on the workings of illegal fishing markets

About 3.5 million fishing vessels ply the world’s oceans, providing livelihoods and food for millions of people. Sound management is key to fisheries’ sustainability, but illegal fishing, along with fishing overcapacity generally and environmental change, ...

• Philippe Le Billon,
• Zelda Ladefoged and
• U. Rashid Sumaila

 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

Illegal markets for cigarettes and e-cigarettes

This paper discusses the long-standing illegal markets for cigarettes and the more recently emerged illegal markets for e-cigarettes. We identify three distinctive market fundamentals that help explain many features of the illegal markets. First, in ...

• Donald Kenkel and
• Grace Phillips

"In 2024, tobacco products generated almost $1 trillion in revenues, mainly from cigarette sales; e-cigarettes generated $26 billion dollars (1–3). While the share of the illegal markets varies by country, it is estimated that illegal markets account for about 10 percent of global cigarette consumption (4). Second, the illegal markets have arisen to evade high excise taxes that increase prices and regulations that restrict the availability of desirable features of legal products.  "

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

The illegal market for sex in the United States: Insights from economic research

The illegal market for sex in the United States generates significant economic activity yet remains understudied due to its illegality and clandestine nature. This paper synthesizes existing empirical evidence documenting aspects of market structure, ...

• Manisha Shah

"Although sex work is often perceived as predominantly occurring in marginalized urban areas or among underprivileged cultural groups, sex work is pervasive at all echelons of society. Media portrayals often emphasize street-based sex work, presenting it as the predominant form of prostitution; however, street-based sex work has been estimated to account for approximately 10 to 15% of total sex work participation (2). In the United States and in many other countries, the majority of the sex market has moved “indoors,” whether that be through massage parlors or brothels and/or online encounters." 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

The policy construction of illegal markets: Exploring variation, success, failure, and unintended consequences

Illegal markets, broadly defined to include markets where only specific transactions are illegal, are the consequence of policy, either a prohibition or highly restrictive regulation. They are generated by a variety of concerns, some moral, some ...

• Letizia Paoli and
• Peter Reuter

"Drugs that are now prohibited were perfectly legal in most countries until the early 20th century. Famously, the British fought two “Opium Wars” with China (1839–1842 and 1856–1858) to open up that nation to opium exports from India (8). Cannabis, the most popular plant-based illegal drug, was cultivated—and also grew wildly—in at least four continents and until the 1920s “the large majority of countries did not have any controls at all” (9). However, the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs virtually prohibited all production and distribution of many prominent psychoactive substances, including heroin, cocaine, and cannabis; it also prohibited possession. Since then, drug transactions have grown to form what is generally believed to be the largest illegal market globally. For the United States (US), an estimate for 2016, the latest available, was over $150 billion (10)." 

PerspectiveAugust 10, 2026

A descriptive analysis for the markets for counterfeit products

Product counterfeiting is a pervasive crime that involves the unauthorized use of a legitimate trademark, a violation of intellectual property rights. Counterfeiting is also one of many forms of global illicit trade, mirroring legitimate markets in ...

• Jay P. Kennedy

"US Customs and Border Protection reports (2) regarding intellectual property rights violations state that the most commonly seized counterfeit products at US ports of entry in 2024 were handbags/wallets (36% of all seizures), pharmaceuticals (27%), and apparel (7.4%). Other products seized included footwear, automotive parts, health and beauty products, and electronics like cell phones, computers, microprocessors, and circuit boards. While Customs seizure reports give an indication of the types of products identified and interdicted by law enforcement agencies, many more counterfeit products slip past customs agents and enter the market, including items like counterfeit aircraft parts, military equipment, weapons systems components, and even parts for nuclear reactors. "

##########

Some of these markets are also discussed in my recent book, 

Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal About How Markets Work  

 

 

Organ attack (the game)

 Here's a game that looks like it could be a gift for the organ trafficker in your life. (It was sent to me by a former student.)  The subtitle of the game is "The Family Friendly Game of Organ Harvesting."

  We opened it after a recent dinner with transplant-adjacent colleagues, but found to our disappointment that it was better suited to epidemiologists than to organ traffickers--the attacks you can make on other players' organ cards are all diseases, so you can't ever take possession of another player's organs. Without the prospect of the advertised organ harvesting, my fellow traffickers and I lost interest.

 

 

HT: Jacob Leshno 

Illicit organ trade, in Nigeria and elsewhere

 Here's an article about organ (kidney) trafficking, by a Nigerian physician, which has a good account of the background of the Nigerian citizen who was convicted in England of organ trafficking. (It's in an interesting looking journal that I hadn't previously heard of...)

Akpen, Nater Paul. "The illicit Organ Trade: Biographical, Anatomical, Economic and Legal Aspects." Journal of Academics Stand Against Poverty 6, no. 1 (2025): 86-102. 

Abstract:"A kidney can cost up to $ 200,000. Humans have two kidneys but normally require just one to live. Individuals can donate one to relatives for altruistic reasons. But to pay $200,000 - or any other amount - to obtain a kidney, no country in the world allows that. Except for Iran. This global blanket ban has pushed the trade of organs underground and it now ranks as the fourth most lucrative illegal activity – behind only drugs, arms, and human trafficking. Rising incidence of end-stage kidney disease will increase demand for replacement kidneys, both gifted and bought. This essay studies this trade using two case studies, one of a Nigerian leading legislator arrested in the UK for getting a kidney for his daughter and another on kidney demand in Iran where trade in organs is permitted. The global value of the trade is studied, and literature gaps are discussed. The inadequacies of the current system are highlighted and improvements suggested, based on best practices around the world."

 

And here's the concluding paragraph:

"Organ trade should be legalized. Governments, in collaboration with professional medical bodies, should be the sole regulator. For deceased donations, there should be an opt out system that would be set in place after a sweeping enlightenment campaign on the system and the need for organs. There should be a fixed uniform national pay to donors (or their next of kins). There should be no cross-border trade. "

 

"Rhino horns are a renewable resource." Would a legal market help save endangered rhinoceroses?

 Right now it is illegal to buy or cell rhino horn, to protect endangered rhinoceroses from poachers who kill them.  But could a legal, tightly regulated market work better? It's controversial...

From Science:

Protect white rhinos by legalizing horn trade  by Martin Wikelsk  Science
10 Oct 2024, Vol 386, Issue 6718, p. 157, DOI: 10.1126/science.adq5925

 "Rhino horn is a renewable resource that grows like fingernails. To protect white rhino populations effectively, the international trade of rhino horn should be legalized and carefully monitored, including the tracking of each sample sold. Legal trade—the preferred option of horn consumers (3)—will derail international trafficking syndicates and enable essential private rhino guardianship. Legalized trade provides the best chance for the future of white rhino populations ."

 

 

And here's a companion story from the Guardian:

‘We have to change our attitude’: wildlife expert says rhino horn trade must be legalised
Call for illicit market to be taken out of hands of criminals as numbers continue to fall drastically due to poaching  by Robin McKie 

"International trade in rhino horns should be legalised, a leading wildlife expert has urged.

...

“A few years ago, I was very much against this idea but now looking at the grim situation we are in I believe we have to change our attitude to the issue of trade in rhino horn,” said Wikelski, of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Germany.

“International crime syndicates have overcome every countermeasure that conservationists have mounted to defend rhinos from poachers. The result has been a drastic drop in numbers of animals. By legalising trade in rhino horn we can take back control of the market and halt the loss.” 

"Wikelski’s idea would be to remove the horn and allow a new one to grow while selling the horn to make money. This could be used to fund protection for the rhino. At present, removed horn is stored in secure vaults.

"However, the proposal to use stocks to create a legitimate trade in rhino horn has triggered worried responses from many conservationists, who reject the idea that such a scheme would save the rhino from the attention of poachers. 

...

“In addition, a legal rhino horn market could increase demand, provide opportunities for money laundering, and complicate law enforcement’s ability to distinguish legal sources from illegal sources,” Rascha Nuijten, director of Future For Nature Foundation, wrote in a response to Wikelski’s arguments that was also published in Science."

Arguments against paying for plasma and other Substances of Human Origin (SoHO)

 Substances of Human Origin (SoHO) have a growing, often lifesaving role in modern medicine, from breast milk for premature babies, to kidneys for transplant, to blood and blood plasma, which the World Health Organization categorizes as an essential medicine for a wide variety of ailments and injuries.  However concern for protecting the donors of SoHO from exploitation has led to a considerable debate about whether donation must always be uncompensated, and motivated purely by altruism.
 

Two important cases are donation of kidneys and of blood plasma. Payment to donors of kidneys for transplant is banned almost everywhere, but a few countries (among which the U.S. is prominent) allow payment to plasma donors. Kidneys are in short supply, so patients with kidney failure very often die prematurely without receiving a transplant, but among high and middle income countries almost no one is today dying from a shortage of plasma and plasma products.  That isn’t because countries that don’t pay plasma donors generate sufficient supply for their domestic needs, it is because they can import plasma pharmaceuticals from countries that do pay donors, chiefly the U.S. which exports tens of billions of dollars of plasma products annually.
 

Here's an article arguing that payment for plasma and other SoHOs is always and everywhere wrong and should be stopped. (The  authors seem to agree with the WHO that countries should raise enough plasma domestically from unpaid donors, although no country has yet managed to do this.)  Furthermore, they suggest that companies that collect and process plasma must be nonprofits.

Prevention of Trafficking in Organs, Tissues, and Cells by Martin, Dominique E. PhD1; Capron, Alexander M. LLB2; Fadhil, Riadh A. S. MD3; Forsythe, John L. R. MD4; Padilla, Benita MD5; Pérez-Blanco, Alicia PhD6; Van Assche, Kristof PhD7; Bengochea, Milka MD8; Cervantes, Lilia MD9; Forsberg, Anna PhD10; Gracious, Noble MD11,12; Herson, Marisa R. PhD1; Kazancioğlu, Rümeyza MD13; Müller, Thomas PhD14; Noël, Luc MD15; Trias, Esteve MD16; López-Fraga, Marta PhD17 Transplantation, October 22, 2024. | DOI: 10.1097/TP.0000000000005212
 

“It is essential that all national laws “concerning the donation and human application” of human organs, tissues, and cells, as well as all derived therapies, conform to the principle of financial neutrality, prohibiting financial gain in the human body or its parts.9,70 Healthcare professionals, service providers, and organ, cell, and tissue procurement organizations, as well as other industry stakeholders involved in processing, manufacture, storage, and distribution of SoHOs and SoHO-based therapies, are all entitled to “reasonable remuneration” for their work and coverage of the costs associated with various sector activities.66,71 However, what may be considered a reasonable and proportionate remuneration in this context is ill defined. There have been reports of service providers and professionals generating disproportionate profits from such activities, creating potential financial conflicts of interest in service provision and potentially violating ethical norms and legal standards prohibiting trade in SoHOs.30
 

“Development of innovative therapies using human cells and tissues has increased, with the potential therapeutic value of these resources spurring commercial interests that, in some cases, has led to practices in which donated SoHOs are treated as commodities.30,72–75 Furthermore, some SoHOs may undergo substantial processing, resulting in these therapies being regulated outside the regulatory framework governing the transplantation of organs, tissues, and cells as such, and rather being considered as medicines, where commercial profits are expected and guide the production and distribution activities.74,75
 

“Mechanisms should be developed to ensure that strategies used in donor recruitment, which may involve actual or perceived financial incentives, are routinely disclosed and open to scrutiny.70 Transparency of practice is also required to enable scrutiny of the fees charged to cover costs of procuring, processing, storing, manufacturing, and distributing cells, tissues, and SoHO-based therapies and to assess the potential influence of financial interests on decision-making about the use of SoHOs in particular SoHO-based therapies, or distribution of SoHO-based therapies.74 These measures would furthermore help to facilitate equitable access to treatments for all patients.21
…
Box 1, first recommendation
“Recommendations for action to prevent trafficking in SoHOs
•    1. All countries should establish laws that prohibit payment for donation of SoHOs, trafficking in SoHOs, and trafficking in human beings to obtain SoHOs.
o    a. Legislation should prohibit activities that make the human body or its parts a source of financial gain exceeding the recovery of the costs of obtaining, processing, storing, and distributing those parts or the products made from them and of ensuring the sustainability, safety, and quality of donation and transplantation systems.”

##########

They also suggest that there is widespread human trafficking in SoHO, although they acknowledge that there isn’t a lot of data to support this:

“since 2010, there have been few empirical studies of organ trafficking, with more recent studies often consisting of qualitative interviews or surveys with individuals who participated in organ trafficking or were victims of human trafficking for organ removal several years earlier.7,32,52 Legal case analyses have focused primarily on seminal cases that detail activities that occurred in the early 2000s.33,38 Much of what is known about current trafficking activities is gleaned from sporadic media reports, which make clear the global prevalence of organ trafficking.”

#########
 

Earlier:

Wednesday, August 28, 2024  WHO Says Countries Should Be Self-Sufficient In (Unremunerated) Organs And Blood, by Krawiec and Roth

Monday, April 22, 2024 Plasma donation in the EU: compensated and uncompensated

Saturday, November 4, 2023  The EU proposes strengthening bans on compensating donors of Substances of Human Origin (SoHOs)--op-ed in VoxEU by Ockenfels and Roth

Vatican statement on gender-affirming surgery and human dignity

 A new statement from the Vatican has been widely covered in the press.

Here's the story from the National Catholic Reporter:

Vatican condemns surrogacy, gender-affirming surgery, gender theory in new doctrinal note. Vatican doctrinal chief calls it 'painful' that some Catholics support gay criminalization  BY CHRISTOPHER WHITE, April 8, 2024

"Sex change operations, gender theory and surrogate motherhood pose grave threats to human dignity, according to a major new Vatican document released on April 8. 

While the highly anticipated treatise, "Dignitas Infinita: on Human Dignity," which has been the source of much speculation for months, offers a broadside against the creation of new rights motivated by sex and gender, it is largely a reiteration of long-held Catholic teaching on a number of social and moral concerns. 

The new document, however, seeks to elevate a number of social themes emphasized by Pope Francis during his decadelong papacy — such as poverty, migration and human trafficking — as being equally a part of the full panoply of potential threats to human dignity as bioethical concerns, such as abortion and euthanasia.   

...

"Among the newly identified threats to human dignity are poverty; war; the travail of migrants; human trafficking; sexual abuse; violence against women; abortion; child surrogacy; euthanasia and assisted suicide; the marginalization of people with disabilities; gender theory; sex change; and digital violence.

Gender theory, according to the document, is a subject of considerable debate among scientific experts, and risks denying "the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference."  

The document repeats a frequent warning of Francis against "ideological colonization," where the pope has sharply criticized western governments for allegedly imposing their sexual values on the developing world. All efforts to eliminate sexual differences between men and women must be rejected, says the document. 

At the same time, the document also begins with a caveat that all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, must be respected, and "every sign of unjust discrimination is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence."

"For this reason," the document continues, "it should be denounced as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation."  

Last year, Francis became the first pope to specifically condemn the criminalization of homosexuality and said that the Catholic Church must work towards an end to what he described as "unjust" laws that criminalize being gay. At present, at least 67 countries have laws criminalizing same-sex relations. 

In its brief section on gender-affirming surgeries, the document avoids using the term "transgender" and instead offers a muted prohibition against medical interventions for such purposes.

...

"Catholic LGBTQ groups criticized the new Vatican document within hours of its publication, saying it failed to acknowledge the concrete experience of transgender and nonbinary individuals.

New Ways Ministry, an advocacy group that had an historic meeting with Francis at the Vatican last October, said in a statement that the text "fails terribly" and shows the limits of the church's understand of human dignity.

...

"The new document also goes on to repeat the pope's recent call for an international ban on the rising practice of surrogate motherhood, declaring that the "legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a 'right to a child' that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life."  

In January, Francis used his annual "State of the World" address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See to push for a global ban on surrogacy. 

While the pope had previously condemned the practice, the pope's sweeping remarks on the topic — where he called it a "grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child" — marked the first time he had made such a specific policy proposal. Last month, the Vatican's ambassador to the United Nations, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, also pressed for an international prohibition against the practice. "

Foreign surrogacy in Denmark is becoming less restrictive

 Above the Law has the story:

Denmark Passes New Pro-Surrogacy Regulations. The new rules in Denmark focus on two areas of surrogacy.  By ELLEN TRACHMAN  February 14, 2024

 "On February 5, 2024, the Danish government announced new surrogacy-supportive rules scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2025. The rules address parentage for families formed by surrogacy — including commercial (compensated) surrogacy outside of Denmark — as well as for families formed by altruistic (noncompensated) surrogacy within Denmark.

...

"In Denmark, compensated surrogacy is illegal, and altruistic surrogacy has traditionally fallen into a legal gray area, pushing most hopeful parents who want to have a genetic connection to their child, but who are unable to carry a pregnancy themselves, to go abroad. The Danish government estimates that about 100 children are born to Danish parents each year by surrogacy outside of Denmark, while about five children each year are born within Denmark in altruistic surrogacy arrangements.

...

"Denmark has a history of denying parental rights to the intended parents of children born by surrogacy abroad. But on December 6, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Denmark in K.K. and Others v. Denmark. In that case, a married heterosexual couple had twins with the assistance of a Ukrainian surrogate. Under Ukrainian law, both Danish intended parents were recognized as parents of the child, and the surrogate was not a parent of the child.

...

"The ECHR found that Denmark’s refusal to recognize the parent-child relationship between the mother and child was a human rights violation — not a violation of the mother’s human rights, but of the two children, to have a recognized legal relationship with their mother.

To its credit, Denmark is reacting to the ECHR’s definitive ruling. In the announcement by the Danish government last week, the government made it clear that the country’s new rules are intended to go beyond the minimum requirements of the ECHR to merely not violate the human rights of Danish children.  (The bare minimum requirement would be to just allow stepparent adoptions.) Instead, the Danish government’s new rules go farther to protect children and their parents.

...

"The new rules permit Danish family courts to quickly make a decision on parenthood in the case of a foreign surrogacy agreement, even permitting a court ruling to be made prior to the family’s return to Denmark. The rules also require that the court assess the best interest of the child, but with a presumption that it is, of course, in the child’s best interest to have a timely recognition of their parents.

"Moreover, the court decisions are permitted to be retroactive to the birth of the child, permitting parents to have access to parental leave work benefits, inheritance rights, and all other benefits of that legal relationship. And, in contrast to a stepparent adoption, the new rules will allow recognition of the parent-child relationship with the mother or nongenetic parent even if parents have separated, or if one parent died before they had a chance to apply for parenthood.

...

"In a stated attempt to address the risk of child trafficking, the rules require that at least one intended parent be genetically related to the child. Additionally, the surrogate is required to confirm in a notarized declaration after the birth that she wishes to transfer parenthood of the child to the intended parents."

Black market monkeys for medical research

 Monkeys used in medical research are supposed to come from carefully bred laboratory colonies, but the rising price has led to black markets, which is bad for both monkeys and for medical researchers. (And monkeys are useful for medical research because of their relatively close relation to humans, which makes for difficult conversations regardless of their source...)

The Guardian has the story:

$20,000 monkeys: inside the booming illicit trade for lab animals  by Phoebe Weston

"An international shortage of lab monkeys has driven up prices, incentivising a booming illicit trade. The problem risks undermining research, creating new pandemics, and fuelling wildlife trafficking. As the trade expands, a once-thriving species is now on the edge: in 2022, it was added to the IUCN list of endangered species. Some animal rights activists are calling to end the trade altogether.

"Long-tailed macaques are the most heavily traded primate species in the world, according to a paper published in September, and much of this is for laboratory research. The US National Association for Biological Research says non-human primates remain a critical resource for research, with about 70,000 monkeys imported a year to study infectious diseases, the brain and the creation of new drugs. Difficulty getting monkeys is compromising important research, Sacha says. Before the pandemic he was paying between $2,000 (£1,600) and $5,000 for an animal. Now, it’s about $20,000. “For a couple of years during lockdown it was near impossible to get them,” he says.

"He is not alone. Almost two-thirds of researchers struggled to find monkeys in 2021, according to a report from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which found that the supply of monkeys for research is at crisis point. According to an article in Science, the report is the “strongest government statement yet on the precarious state of monkey research”. A similar picture is coming from Europe, where a shortage of monkeys has resulted in some research being abandoned.

"Long-tailed macaques (the monkey most commonly used in medical research) are protected under international trade law and special permits are required to import the animals into the US.

"Laboratories need pathogen-free primates that are in good condition and so do not want monkeys that have been wild-caught. With prices so high, however, traffickers are incentivised to catch them in the wild and launder them in via established breeding colonies.

"For decades, China was the largest supplier, but it banned the wild animal trade in 2020 in light of the Covid pandemic. Demand for monkeys increased significantly in the following years, but supply did not. Cambodia has since significantly increased exports to plug the gap and tap into this increasingly lucrative market.

...

"Animal rights campaigners want the US government to end the “cruel trade”, saying it poses a significant threat to public health. The National Academies report says investing in non-animal “organ on a chip” technology could reduce overall demand.

"It also recommended that the US expand its domestic breeding facilities – which it can then regulate. Sacha says: “We shouldn’t be reliant on external countries for these animals that are really critical to our ability to test new therapeutics and vaccines and medicines.”