China admits to death-row organ harvesting

China is trying to move away from the use of executed prisoners as the major source of organs for transplants.According to the China Daily newspaper, executed prisoners currently provide two-thirds of all transplant organs.  The government is now launching a voluntary donation scheme, which it hopes will also curb the illegal trafficking in organs.  But analysts say cultural bias against removing organs after

About1.5 million people in China need transplants, but only about 10,000operations are performed annually, according to the health ministry.  Thescarcity of available organs has led to a thriving black market intrafficked organs, and in an effort to stop this the government passeda law in 2007 banning trafficking as well as the donation of organs tounrelated recipients.  But in practice, illegal transplants -some from living donors – are still frequently reported by the mediaand the Ministry of Health.  Human rights groups have oftencriticised China for its lack of transparency over organ donation, butcritics have focused particular concern on the use of body parts fromexecuted prisoners.

Source/more:  BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8222732.stm