Abstract Since its inception the IAEA program in radiation and tissue banking supported the establishment of twenty five tissue banks in dif- ferent countries. Now more than 103 tissue banks are now operating in these countries. The pro- duction of sterilized tissues has grown in an exponential mode within the IAEA program. From 1988 until the end of 2000 the production of sterilized tissues was 224,706 grafts, with an esti- mated value of at least $51,768,553 million dollars at the mean current charge rate in non-commer- cial banks in Europe and USA. During the period 1997–2002 several countries from Asia and the Pacific region produced more than 155,000 grafts, with an estimated value of about $36.7 million dollars. Training was considered to be one of the most important tasks to be supported. A total of 192 students were registered in the training pro- gram and 146 students graduated with a Univer- sity Diploma. For many developing countries an additional benefit is not having to import expen- sive sterilized tissues from developed countries, but the exposure of orthopedic and plastic sur- geons working, to new methods of using allografts in specific surgical treatments. Introduction An appropriate and on time transplant of tissues for persons suffering serious burns and subject to medical treatment, or who require certain ortho- pedic or plastic surgery, or are suffering other serious diseases, could not only in certain cases save their own lives but might have an important impact in the quality of their future existence. The benefits of these transplants of tissues can reach millions of persons in many countries of the world, if appropriate facilities for the processing and sterilized human and/or animal tissues are available in these countries. Initially, to carry out such transplantation of tissues in developed countries, the patient’s own tissues (autografts) were used. However, now, most of the countries are also using tissues of human or animal origin (allograft). This new type of transplant has been developed in recent years and now a significant number of facilities in many countries are preparing this type of tissues with high quality to be used in certain specialized medical treatments, in accordance with their national norms and regulations. This type of facility, commonly called ‘‘tissue banks’’, are J. Morales Pedraza (&) Charasgasse # 3 apart. 13, A-1030 Vienna, Austria e-mail: jmorales_47@yahoo.com Cell Tissue Banking (2006) 7:237–258 DOI 10.1007/s10561-006-9011-2 123 ADVANCES IN TISSUE BANKING The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) program on radiation and tissue banking: a successful program for developing countries Jorge Morales Pedraza Received: 1 November 2005 / Accepted: 10 January 2006 / Published online: 5 July 2006 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006