Letter from the Editor Ann F. Corson MD

A few days ago, Health Europa published an article about a new report from the Institute to Research the Crimes of Communism (IRCC), a non-profit organization based in the Czech Republic. An English version of the report, “The Economics of Organ Harvesting in China: The Part of Companies and Doctors in Democratic Countries in the Illegal Organ Harvesting in China” was published December 9th.

The authors, Pavel Porubiak and Lukas Kudlacek, describe the forced live organ harvesting of prisoners in China as “one of the most inhumane crimes in the entire history of humanity” and say the “practice of illegal organ harvesting is equivalent to contract killing.”

The purpose of the report was to determine “whether, knowingly or unknowingly, companies or doctors (individuals) from democratic countries outside of China are participating in these unlawful acts.” Additionally, the authors ask whether those who knowingly or unknowingly collaborate and/or profit from China’s illegal and immoral actions are to be held criminally liable.

They point out that “the demand side of this crime is no less despicable than the source of the supply.” In other words, those transplant patients who travel to China for organs, those companies that supply China with medication and medical equipment related to transplantation, and medical organizations that collaborate in transplant training and research with China, whether ignorant or not of China’s transplant practices, risk being considered culpable.

The authors deplore the “seeming global passivity of professional institutions – in comparison with the severity of the issue – and the restraint of the doctors…” as they conclude, “The evidence in this report reveals that the illegal organ harvesting in China is not a criminal offense limited to just that one country, but inevitably depends on many factors outside of China.”

Evidence indicates that “20 countries and regions in the world, at the very least, send transplant tourists to China for organ transplants” and that there are up to 28 companies that benefit financially from providing China with the “materials, drugs and devices supporting the development of the transplantation business.”

As the holiday season approaches with hopes for a better New Year, the DAFOH newsletter team asks all nations in the world to mandate and further strengthen upright moral and ethical practices, particularly in transplant medicine.

Given the vast accumulation of evidence documenting China’s illegal organ harvesting from Christians, Uyghurs, Tibetans and Falun Gong, we at DAFOH truly hope that all of those even remotely involved in China’s transplant industry will act quickly to extricate themselves in order to avoid complicity in “one of the most inhumane crimes in the entire history of humanity.”