Two major Dutch hospitals say they will stop importing human body parts from American firms, which they have been doing without any regulation for a decade.

The hospitals told Reuters in recent weeks they made their decisions on ethical grounds. The move comes amid investigations by US law enforcement into some so-called body brokers - companies that obtain the dead, often through donation, dissect them and sell the parts for profit.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that one broker under scrutiny by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation - Portland, Oregon-based MedCure - has used a Dutch hub to distribute tens of thousands of kilograms of human body parts across Europe since 2012. American authorities have reportedly accused MedCure of selling some body parts tainted with disease to American and foreign customers, a concern triggered in part by such shipments to Canada and Hong Kong.

Reuters found that importers of US body parts included two Dutch hospitals. The news agency uncovered no evidence body parts used in the Netherlands were infected, but the Dutch hospitals said they would drop the suppliers in response to reporting by Reuters which raised questions about how the brokers acquired body donations.

The country's largest hospital, Amsterdam's Academic Medical Centre (AMC), said it bought between 300 and 500 heads from US brokers, which in the past included MedCure, to cover a shortfall. The parts, used for research and training courses, were bought as early as 2008 and as recently as November 21, the hospital said.