How much is a human head?
The business of chopping up cadavers is important, but too little talked about
A human head will set you back about $640. An arm is less: that costs roughly $430. A leg, by contrast, is $1,600; while a torso costs around $2,000. A hand, however, is a mere $300. Postage and packaging, as so often online, add considerably to the cost of these American imports—at times to the tune of thousands of dollars. And not wholly without reason, for transporting fresh-frozen corpses can be tricky: they need a lot of ice. They can defrost at awkward moments. They can puzzle customs officials. But overall, human body parts come surprisingly cheap: getting an arm and a leg rarely costs an arm and a leg.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Costing an arm and a leg ”
From the June 17th 2023 edition
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