00:00There's a new beauty treatment that's surging in popularity around the globe,
00:03and it relies on an unusual ingredient, skin from dead Americans.
00:07Each year, tens of thousands of Americans donate bodily tissue, like skin, upon their deaths.
00:12Tens of millions of dollars worth of that skin has been supplied to companies in the beauty capital of the
00:16world, South Korea.
00:18There, skin is turned into injectable cosmetic treatments.
00:20They're called skin boosters, and they promise to reduce signs of aging.
00:23The market-leading brand plans to enter the U.S. next year,
00:26but it isn't clear if it can be sold here without regulatory approval.
00:29Business Insider traces supply chain to understand how American donor tissue can end up for sale at a clinic in
00:35Seoul
00:35and how much money is being made along the way.
00:37Under U.S. law, donors or their families cannot be paid for tissue or organs.
00:41Using human tissue in plastic surgery isn't new.
00:44For decades, cartilage has been used in nose jobs and skin in breast augmentations.
00:48Now, skin care from human tissue can be purchased for a few hundred dollars
00:51and administered at a med spa or dermatology clinic in under an hour.
00:55In South Korea, a mecca for cutting-edge beauty treatments,
00:57at least 10 biotech firms are making or planning to introduce skin-derived injections.
01:01These products are projected to generate $75 million in sales this year in South Korea.
01:06The distribution of organs is coordinated by a public-private partnership with the federal government,
01:11but tissue is handled differently.
01:13It's distributed through commercial relationships.
01:15The more traditional business aspects of the tissue industry have been a subject of debate for decades.
