China, Human Rights & Organ Harvesting

I heard a very disturbing interview on the Today Programme this morning. I think most people are aware that China’s record on human rights has been rather poor; every time there is talk of trade deals or State visits, there is a call for the parties to put pressure on the Chinese about the subject.

Hearing today the claim that the Chinese are harvesting organs from healthy political prisoners for transplant surgery on demand – effectively murdering the ‘donors’ in the process – really turned my stomach.

Although I heard the interview on Radio 4, I don’t see anything on the BBC News site however I did find several articles in the Canadian press (See here and here.) The Chinese Embassy is refuting the report’s validity but not, in my opinion, being terribly convincing about it. (See here.) I think this is something which needs further investigation – if only to establish where the shortfall in identifiable organ-transplant donors is being made up from and how exactly a hospital can guarantee you a matching organ within a few weeks of your request.