The cosmetic industry's new frontier: cadaver fat

Key Points:

• Tech mogul Bryan Johnson spends $2 million annually on Project Don’t Die, a data-driven anti-aging regimen including gene therapy and fat injections, but faced complications when using cadaver-derived fat due to his low body fat.
• The rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs has increased demand for tissue-based cosmetic injectables like Renuva and Alloclae, which use donor fat from cadavers, highlighting an emerging market termed “necrocosmetics.”
• The tissue donation industry for non-organ body parts operates with minimal regulation, creating ethical concerns as donated tissues from impoverished individuals are used for profit in biomedical and cosmetic sectors.
• Investigations reveal a largely unregulated, for-profit body broker system in the U.S., where cadaver parts are sold with insufficient medical documentation, raising safety and ethical issues compared to the highly regulated organ donation system.
• The transhumanist philosophy embraced by some tech elites, including Johnson, envisions a future where optimized humans live forever, while the commodification of cadaver tissues perpetuates inequalities, with the less privileged serving as raw material for the longevity of the wealthy.