September 13, 2006

I was surfing the web when I came across an article concerning the organ trade market in China.

The article claimed that on July 17, 2004, the Scientific and Technology Museum of Taiwan held an exhibition of human anatomy. At the exhibition, all the human bodies and organs on display were provided by the Medical Association of China. Prior to the exhibition it was alleged that some of the bodies and organs were illegally obtained from executed Chinese prisoners.

People from all over the world now seek organ transplants in China. Between 1999 and 2004 there were at least 1000 Falun Gong practitioners that were tortured to death. The government violated their rights by removing their organs and selling them in the black market.

In China, the removal of the organs of executed prisoners is a practice condoned by the government. Many Chinese policemen, judges, and doctors are willing to discuss how to obtain organs from dead prisoners for commercial usage. Dr. Diflo, who is working in the NYU Medical Center, wrote in his article, published in a May issue of the New York Village Voice that six of his patients who had kidney transplants in China came to him afterwards for medical care. These patients all told him that their new kidneys came from executed prisoners.

Reliable sources report that kidney transplant patients from places such as Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Canada often travel to China to obtain a transplant operation. The cost is about 1 million Taiwan dollars (US$30,000). The usual arrangements are that after they receive the notification of an available kidney, they immediately travel to China. After spending a week in the hospital, they are provided with a suitable kidney.

The Chinese media has reported that, at the beginning of this year, there were many advertisements for transplant kidneys and corneas in hospitals of Shanghai and Liaoning. Some advertisements listed the blood type and age of the donor, and the phone number of the contact person. According to the report, a kidney costs 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) in Shenyang.

The Chinese Human Rights and Democratic Activities Information Center of Hong Kong disclosed on August 2, 2001, that the News Director of the Metropolitan Information News in Jiangxi Province, Yao Xiaohong, had been fired. She had reported that the District Court for Pingxiang city in Jiangxi Province had stolen the kidneys from corpses without permission.

This action had incurred the wrath of the local government.

China is the country conducting most of the trade in human organs. Organs obtained from the corpses of executed prisoners, if healthy, are being sold to hospitals or patients directly. If the organs are unsuitable for transplant, they are sold to companies such as the ones owned by Dr. Hagens and Dr. Sui. They are displayed all over the world.

We are all fighting for human rights. This is definitely a violation of human rights, to take organs out of one's body without the consent of their families. It makes me wonder is world peace ever possible?

http://www.progressiveu.org/204746-organ-harvesting