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From The Mailbag

Chinese exports now include human organs
for transplant and skin for burn grafts.
For the past four years news sources in Europe have been reporting that due to the dramatic rise in demand for organ donations, China has expanded its export of every product imaginable to one that is unimaginable: the very secret, but very lucrative sale of human organs—extracted not from donors who pledge them at death, but harvested from political prisoners who are executed specifically for hearts, livers, kidneys, corneas, pancreases and even skin for burn victims after they exhaust the Chinese "appeals process" and their execution finally takes place at the prescribed date and time. They do this not because they felt a moral obligation to atone for their crimes by helping someone who will die without a needed heart, liver, kidney or pancreas, but rather, only because there is a growing demand for human organs and China created a law which allows the government to harvest organs from condemned convicts.

The demand for organ transplants is due to the development of a drug called cyclosporine in the early 1980s. Cyclosporine minimizes the rejection of foreign human organs in the transplant patient's body. As the demand for organs mushroomed, the People's Republic of China issued a decree in 1984 allowing the State to harvest organs from executed prisoners: "Rules Concerning the Utilization of Corpses or Organs for the Corpses of Executed Prisoners." Under the law, organ harvesting became legal [a] if no one claims the body, [b] if the executed prisoner volunteered to have the organs in his (or her) body harvested, or [c] if the family consented to the harvesting of the executed prisoner. In a totalitarian regime like China, [a], [b] and [c] are pretty much synonyms. The organs of between 50% to 75% of all executed prisoners are harvested for sale by the Chinese government to eager buyers. Out of an estimated 4,500 prisoners who are executed annually in China, the organs of from 2 to 3 thousand of them—40 to 50 executed inmates per week—are quietly sold to the highest bidders on the human organ black market. On Aug. 26, 2009, The London Telegraph reported that, on the global black market, a single kidney can sell for as much as £50,000.

Allegations about organ harvesting by Chinese prison officials was first reported by the outlawed Buddhist Falun Gong through the Falun Dafa Information Center. When the Washington Times broke the Falun Dafa story that about 2/3 of all the "organ donations" come from China's growing "death row" prison population, Washington Times reporter Julia Duin contacted Wang Baodong, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington who dismissed the Falun Dafa report by saying "...the sheer lies of organ harvesting are nothing but Falun Gong's propaganda tactics."

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese Buddhist discipline that consists of moral teachings, meditation and four gentle exercises. This is not a "crime" for which one would expect to be sentenced to prison, let alone receive a death sentence for practicing it. Prior to the demand for human organs for transplant, practicing Falun Gong carried a prison sentence that averaged about 16 years. Today, may of those sentenced receive the death penalty. China, the most atheist country in the world, suppresses all forms of religion including traditional Protestantism and Catholicism.

Many of the organs sold to the highest bidder in China come from "donors" whose only crime was practicing a benign religion, or in believing in Jesus Christ. China has been a major player in organ harvesting only for the last decade or so. Prior to that, religious dissidents—but specifically those who practice Falun Gong—and who were unfortunate enough to taken into custody rather than killed—were tortured over prolonged periods of time until they recant their belief. Women are repeatedly raped. Those who survive their prison sentences are usually so maimed, both physically and mentally, they can no longer function in society. But once Chinese authorities saw the financial reward in organ harvesting, the dissidents were no longer tortured since the prison officials who are paid a bounty for the organs do not want to damage the "products" they plan to sell. The Falun Dafa Information Center (in New York) was created in July, 1999 when the public persecution of Falun Gong was launched by the Chinese government.

When China finally admitted to the Red Cross that two-thirds of all organs used in transplants in China are taken from condemned prisoners, Huang Jiefu, the Vice Minister of Health for the People's Republic of China, promised "...a major initiative to clean up China's murky organ donation business," adding that "...Death Row inmates were definitely not a proper source for organ transplants." While Huang insisted that under Chinese law, organs can be taken only from condemned prisoners who have given written consent the Telegraph noted, the opaque nature of the Chinese justice system leaves much room for doubt. Particularly, the article noted "...from the system which doctors admit is open to widespread abuse." Huang concluded "...[t]ransplants should not be a privilege for the rich..." (although they are the only people who can afford the black market prices for organs.) "The system," he said, "is in the public interest and will benefits patients regardless of social status and wealth in terms of fairness in organ allocation and better procurement." (Which sounds like "better procurement" means more arrests, more capital convictions for more frivolous crimes are in China's future.)

China, like most totalitarian countries, has a zero tolerance for crime. Amnesty International reported that, in China, criminals are regularly executed for minimal offenses. In many cases the "crimes" are misdemeanors for which only minimal amounts of jail time, if any, would be assessed in any parliamentarian country in the world. Amnesty International noted that pig stealing, or any form of theft, can get the thief sentenced to death if he (or she) faces the wrong judge.

Amnesty International reported that the Chinese government has increased the number of death sentences simply to meet the global demand for more donor organs. According to inmate witnesses, criminals in Chinese prisons are regularly examined by prison doctors. Blood samples are taken to see if they match awaiting recipients for organs. If they match, the execution of the condemned prisoner takes place as soon as arrangements to transport the donor organ are made. The primary "buyer" who triggers the execution pays the premium for the organ they need. The balance of the available organs from that unfortunate inmate are then sold to the highest bidder on the black market. Wealthy individuals throughout Asia are able to buy organs at will. Once the buy is made, the unfortunate malefactor who matches the organ-buyer is executed by one bullet to the head to mitigate tissue and organ damage. This guarantees that every organ except the brain (which, of course, can't be transplanted) is harvested for black market buyers—including the inmate's skin for potential burn victims.

Each inmate whose organs are harvested are worth about $100,000 wholesale to the Chinese government. With approximately 4,500 inmates organ-harvested annually, even at wholesale, the Chinese government is pulling in about $4.5 billion per year from this industry. Throughout the world there are over 300 thousand organ transplants per year, yet the supply of donor organs does not match the demand from those who face imminent death from failing organs. It should be noted that the precise number of inmates who are organ-harvested annually is a closely kept secret in the People's Republic of China. China executes more prisoners than all other countries in the world combined. China claims, without producing evidence to substantiate the claims, that they introduced a new appeals system in 2007 that has reduced the number of executions annually and, thus, cut the number of convict donors.

The huge shortage of needed organs in China, where over a million donor organs are needed every year, and where only about 10 thousand people receive the organ transplants needed to prolong their lives, has created a gap between supply and demand that has led to a thriving black market. Chen Zhonghua, the Deputy Director of the Chinese Medical Association admitted that the black market has ruined public faith and a willingness to donate organs. In reality, China has a culture which eschews organ donations since they believe they will need their organs in the afterlife. There is a reluctance on the part of the Chinese to be buried without their bodies intact. Thus, those who believe in the ancient Chinese culture or religions which teach reincarnation, will not willingly donate their organs since they are convinced they will need them in their next existence.

The London Globe reported that a surgeon in Beijing is generally paid about 30 thousand yuan (about £2,700) for performing an organ transplant. From start to finish—from the negotiations to purchase the organ, say a kidney, to the transplant, the recipient will pay about 200 thousand yuan, or about £18,000 in medical bills. Which, of course, makes it clear that the only people in China who will benefit from an organ transplant are those who have benefited from China's new found affluence. Everyone else is potentially an organ factory.