Thread: China issues new rules on organs

Last Updated: Saturday, 7 April 2007, 04:43 GMT 05:43 UK

China issues new rules on organs

The Chinese government says it is cracking down on the organ trade
China has issued new regulations governing human organ transplants, state media has reported.

From 1 May, doctors and hospitals who violate a ban on commercial trade in organs will face fines and suspensions.

The number of hospitals allowed to perform transplants will be restricted and it will become a crime to harvest organs without the donor's consent.


Critics say China's transplant industry is beset by illegal practises with many organs coming from executed prisoners.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville in Shanghai says that organs have been a lucrative and thriving business for the military and China's under-funded health system.



Under the new rules, doctors and clinics involved in the illegal organ trade will have their licenses revoked and will be subject to high fines, Xinhua news agency reported.

The rules ban the use of organs from donors under 18 and state that every transplant must be approved by an ethics committee.

The rules also stipulate that organ transplants "should respect the principle of voluntary and free donation", Xinhua said.

A Chinese prisoner at a public execution
Critics say death row inmates may not be free to withhold consent

Last year, China officials denied a BBC report that organs taken from executed prisoners - not necessarily with their consent - were being sold to health tourists from overseas.

A BBC reporter ostensibly seeking a liver for a sick relative was told by doctors at a hospital in Tianjin that one could be available in three weeks and the donor could be an executed prisoner.

Ni Shouming of the Supreme People's Court said that organs from prisoners were only used with their consent or that of their families. "The donation procedure for ordinary people and those who sit on death row is the same," he said.

China faces a huge gap between supply and demand of organs, Xinhua said.

According to Health Ministry statistics, 1.5 million patients need transplants each year, but only 10,000 organs are available.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6534363.stm

And thank you for shoppinng at Walmart

Did you see the television news clip of a Chinese murderer who got knocked off a building with a firehose. I was thinking when I saw it that his body parts would already have been spoken for and sold off to some wealthy Western
tourists by the time it hit the airbag.

Originally Posted by Richard

Did you see the television news clip of a Chinese murderer who got knocked off a building with a firehose. I was thinking when I saw it that his body parts would already have been spoken for and sold off to some wealthy Western
tourists by the time it hit the airbag.

Aint that the truth. China is trying to put a postive spin on their organ harvest program. This is just a PR tatic. Every time our company is contacted by a Chinese Manufacturer I first tell them I dont support Communists along with a long list of others and organ harvesting is one of them.