Mick
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 Posted: 04/19/06 - 18:04 Post subject: China selling prisoners’ organs |
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China has been accused of harvesting the organs of thousands of executed prisoners every year to sell for transplants.
In a statement, the British Transplantation Society condemned the practice as unacceptable and a breach of human rights. In March, China said it would ban the sale of human organs from July.
The British Transplantation Society says an accumulating weight of evidence suggests the organs of thousands of executed prisoners in China are being removed for transplants without consent.
Professor Stephen Wigmore, who chairs the society's ethics committee, said that the speed of matching donors and patients, sometimes as little as a week, implied prisoners were being selected before execution.
Chinese officials deny the allegations.
Just last week a Chinese health official said publicly that organs from executed prisoners were sometimes used, but only with prior permission and in a very few cases.
Professor Wigmore said: "The weight of evidence has accumulated to a point over the last few months where it's really incontrovertible in our opinion”.
The emergence of transplant tourism has made the sale of health organs even more lucrative. Patients increasingly come from Western countries, including the UK, as well as Japan and South Korea.
The Chinese authorities recently announced steps to tighten regulations. From July, selling organs will be illegal and all donors must give written permission. |
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