China to end trafficking of inmates’ organs
Officials in China have agreed to end the practice of taking prisoners’ organs.
Chinese medical officials agreed Friday not to transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families.
The agreement was reached at a meeting of the World Medical Association in Copenhagen.
China has previously acknowledged that kidneys, livers, corneas and other organs are routinely removed from prisoners sentenced to death row. But officials insist that this only happens when consent is provided.
The trade in human organs have been a booming market in China for both foreigners and domestic customers in need of an organ transplant.
The underground organ trade in China has been a notorious supplier of organs to foreigners desperately in need of transplants, who make up as much as 40 percent of the market. Brokers regularly arrange transplants in weeks rather than the months or years it generally takes in the West.
Health officials say the country faces a severe organ shortage, estimating that 1.5 million people need transplants in China each year, and that only about 10,000 operations are carried out.
The World Health Organization reported that China is the top destination in the world for organs.
