"BEIJING -- China published new rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics. But the regulations were packed with shortcomings, a human rights group said Saturday, including a failure to address what it called the 'crucial issue' of the procurement of organs from executed prisoners."
"The rules issued Friday by China's State Council, or Cabinet, include a ban on the sale of human organs for profit and on donations by people under 18, according to the text of the regulations published by the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily. The regulations, which take effect May 1, are also meant to standardize transplant procedures at the limited number of hospitals licensed to perform them.
Little information about China's lucrative transplant business is publicly available. Human rights groups have said many organs - including those transplanted into wealthy foreigners - come from executed prisoners who may not have given their permission. Human Rights Watch urged Beijing for full transparency on the removal of body organs from executed prisoners.
'The regulations show that China is responding to great international concern over organ trade in the country,' said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, in a telephone interview.
'But the regulations are no substitute for an open and transparent system. It leaves vague areas under secrecy, such as the crucial issue of the provenance of the organs, which we know are through judicial executions,' Bequelin said.
The rules make it illegal to harvest human organs without permission, but Bequelin said the process of obtaining voluntary consent either from prisoners or their families was 'virtually meaningless.'
'We're talking about prisoners who are going to be executed. They can be subjected to all sorts of pressure to sign these consents,' he said. 'It is not an informed consent.'
The official Xinhua News Agency said most organs used in transplants come from deceased Chinese citizens who had voluntarily donated. But Bequelin said research showed more than 90 percent of organs used in transplants were obtained from judicial executions. A senior health official said in November that most organs harvested from cadavers were from executed prisoners, with their prior consent, according to a China Daily newspaper report.
Chinese legislators have been pushing for years for a law to regulate and promote voluntary organ donations. The rules are needed, they say, to prevent unqualified doctors and profit-hungry hospitals from abusing patients.
Health officials say China faces a severe shortage of human organs, estimating that out of 1.5 million people who need transplants in China each year, only about 10,000 operations are carried out. Voluntary donations remain far below demand in China, partly due to cultural biases against organ removal before burial."
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com
Article by GILLIAN WONG
The Associated Press
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