National Geographic shines light on 'dark trade'

Could illicit trade--involving everything from handbags to humans to counterfeit pharmaceuticals to weapons-grade uranium--be an even greater threat to our way of life than terrorism? Dr. Mois•s Na•m, editor of Foreign Policy magazine, believes that could be the case. A new National Geographic Special, Illicit: The Dark Trade, which aired April 16 on PBS television stations, estimated the global value of this trade to be as high as $3 trillion, with some assessments believing it represents 10 percent of the world's trade. As the accompanying photo of counterfeit drugs seized in Bogota, Columbia, shows, counterfeit packaging is part of this illicit trade. (Photo by Richard Numeroff/©2008 National Geographic Television.)