Promoting Ethics in Medicine

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is an intergovernmental body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. Yet one of its members, the People’s Republic of China, has throughout its history seemed to have violated all 30 articles detailing specific human rights that the council is charged to protect.  Additionally, China’s spokesperson on transplant issues Huang Jiefu, a liver transplant surgeon who has been mired in international controversy over unethical organ procurement and transplant practices, has been appointed to the World Health Organization Task Force on Organ Trafficking. 

Given this undermining of the basic ethical tenets and mission of the United Nations, it is no surprise that the United States recently withdrew from the UNHRC. The same concerns led DAFOH to end our petition to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that called for an end to China’s forced organ harvesting of all prisoners of conscience.

Kierkegaard put it succinctly, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” In regards to the human rights abuses being perpetrated in China, especially by its transplant community, it appears that the United Nations is acting with willful blindness to avoid accountability for the wrongful acts of its member by intentionally keeping itself unaware of facts that could render the organization liable. By remaining silent, not only has the United Nations failed in its efforts to ensure human rights for all people but has also become an accomplice to mass genocide.

An enormous problem is that the American public and medical community still don’t have a broad knowledge of the seriousness of the forced organ harvesting issue, and media coverage is lacking.

Resolution 210, submitted to the American Medical Association on November 11^th by the Medical Society of the District of Columbia calls for:

1. Transplant surgeons, especially those who come to the United States for training in transplant surgery, must agree to AMA’s Ethical Guidelines, and that American medical and hospital institutions not be complicit in any ethical violations or conflicts of interest;
2. An independent, interdisciplinary, transparent investigation must be conducted into China’s organ transplantation practices; and
3. The U.S. government must protect the large number of transplant tourists by implementing legislation that would blacklist countries that do not meet the same transparency and ethical standards practiced in the United States.

Joseph Gutierrez, Chair of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia’s delegation to the AMA, said, “We are very concerned with the increasing reports, out of China being particular, regarding forced organ harvesting for transplantation.”

Raymond Scalettar, Clinical Professor at George Washington University Medical Center and former Chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, supported the resolution saying, “This is a very important resolution on what is being called ‘cold genocide.’ The AMA has a significant representation at the World Medical Association. Hopefully, they can go forward and explore what else they can do in order to end this cold genocide.”

DAFOH Executive Director Dr. Torsten Trey told the committee, “The world saw medical abuse during the Holocaust, but it has never seen a genocide in which organs were systematically harvested and used for a profitable transplant business. Resolution 210 provides an opportunity to establish global leadership in ethics. The U.S. Congress passed House Resolution 343 calling for an end to forced organ harvesting in China, and the medical profession should do no less to stop this transplant abuse.”

DAFOH Deputy Director Dr. Weldon Gilcrease said, “Forced organ harvesting is systematic. It is carried out at the governmental level.” He added that, due to ignorance, American physicians and the public are at risk of complicity. American medical institutions train Chinese surgeons in transplant medicine who then return home and participate in unethical organ procurement and transplant practices. American citizens travel to China to buy organs obtained through acts of genocide.

On November 13th, Bitter Winter, a magazine dedicated to religious liberty and human rights in China, published an op-ed by DAFOH Executive Director, Torsten Trey, MD, PhD.  Dr. Trey points out the unprecedented and explosive growth of China’s transplant medicine industry from its infancy in 2000 into today’s “massive industry, producing well-matched organs from healthy, young donors on demand.” He questioned China’s claim that it ceased its decades-long practice of using organs from executed prisoners as of January 2015.

Chinese authorities said that during 2017, 15,000 organ transplantation surgeries took place and 375,000 citizens were registered as organ donors. But, only a fraction of registered organ donors provides organs for transplant in any given year and not all donated organs are appropriate for use as transplants. Dr. Trey noted that “the ratio of actual organ donations to the number of registered donors in China is 140 times larger” than ratios for the United States and the United Kingdom. This calls into question whether the Chinese government’s official numbers have been manipulated or fabricated in order to cover up the absence of any real reform and to hide the true inner workings of its transplant industry.

Dr. Trey detailed impediments within the Chinese system that make the probability of reform remote. Legally binding 1984 provisions still allow the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners and prisoners of conscience. There is no Chinese law banning such practices. The nation of China lacks consistent rule of law. Placing the ruling communist party’s agenda and actions above the Chinese constitution encourages ongoing organ procurement abuse and profit mongering in a highly commercialized and government-subsidized medical industry.

China’s transplant industry lacks both transparency and accountability yet its ambition to lead the world in organ transplantation is widely publicized. The willful blindness demonstrated by some in the international community of accepting unsubstantiated Chinese claims only acts to enable and perpetuate the state-driven cold genocide against the Falun Gong, Uyghurs, Tibetans, House Christians and political dissidents.

Last month, the British Broadcasting Company’s (BBC) World Service Discovery program aired a two-part radio show about transplant medicine in China. Award-winning investigative journalist Matthew Hill skillfully leads the listener through an accurate exposition of factual evidence supporting the contention that China has, for decades, used not just executed criminals, but also prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs, as sources for transplantable organs.

The first episode, China’s Organ Transplants – Who to Believe?, includes statements from the initial whistle blower (who first gave evidence in 2006), doctors, researchers and ethicists who have studied the issue for over a decade as well as interviews of previously detained Falun Gong practitioners who were forced to undergo medical examinations and blood testing despite being subjected to horrific tortures. Hill tells the story of an unethical and amoral medical industry directed and supported by the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party, and succeeds in pointing out how incongruent are those who accept China’s misrepresentations .

The second and final program, China’s Organ Transplants – Tourism and Transparency, brings into even sharper focus the disparity between ongoing evidence of foreign transplant tourism and imprudent opinions of international health and transplant officials, misled by CCP propaganda. Excerpts from a 2017 documentary produced by undercover South Korean TV reporters at one of China’s leading transplant hospitals clearly demonstrates that China continues to receive large numbers of transplant tourists annually. Hill suggests that the total lack of transparency surrounding China’s transplant industry should negate any statements made by Chinese transplant officials.

Shortly after the World Service Discovery program aired, BBC Points West reported on the controversy surrounding ties between the English city of Bristol with its “twin” city, Guangzhou, China. Revelations that hospitals in Guangzhou are harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience have triggered grave concern among British citizens, who are calling on Bristol’s council to place human rights above commerce by cutting ties with Guangzhou.

On October 4, Vice President Pence delivered a comprehensive policy speech on China at the Hudson Institute. He said, “Beijing is employing a whole-of-government approach, using political, economic, and military tools, as well as propaganda, to advance its influence and benefit its interests in the United States.”

On October 10, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) released its 2018 annual report. US Senator Marco Rubio and US Representative Chris Smith, Chair and Co-chair of CECC urged the United States to adopt a “whole of government” approach in dealing with human rights in China.

The report highlights the worsening human rights conditions in China including,

• An unprecedented repression of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;
• A dramatic increase in Party control over the government, society, and business; and
• An increasing use of technology as a tool of repression.

The Commission noted reports of continued repression of Falun Gong practitioners, by means of harassment, arbitrary detention, and prosecution. International organizations continued to express concern over reports that organs of detained prisoners have been used in numerous organ transplant operations in China, including those of Falun Gong practitioners. Medical professionals and international advocacy organizations disputed Chinese health officials’ claims that organ procurement systems have been reformed in compliance with international standards, citing ethical concerns about organ sourcing raised by short wait times for organ transplants and discrepancies in data on organ transplants.

Specifically, in terms of the alleged transplant reform in China, the Commission “did not observe any rule making efforts to ban harvesting organs from executed prisoners.” The report urges the Chinese government to pass national legislation explicitly banning  the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners.

The report also calls for the U.S. Congress and Trump administration officials to stress to the Chinese government that the right to freedom of religion includes the rights of Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and Muslims to freely practice their beliefs.

Smith said that the United States should include human rights in trade negotiations with China and in every aspect of U.S. policy.

On October 23^rd, the Canadian Senate unanimously passed Bill S-240, an Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The bill, introduced by Sen. Salma Ataullahjan, creates new criminal offenses in relation to human organ and tissue trafficking and allows the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to deny admission into Canada of permanent residents or foreign nationals who have engaged in any activities related to human organ and tissue trafficking.  Senator Ataullahjan discussed the bill in an October 25^th interview.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis introduced Bill S-240 to the Canadian House of Commons on October 30^th. Despite a decade of failed attempts to create such legislation, Genuis is optimistic that Bill S-240 will be passed by Parliament and become law.  He feels strongly that Canada needs to join other countries which have already enacted similar legislation, such as Israel, Spain, Italy and Taiwan, so as to protect Canadians from becoming complicit in criminal acts related to human organ and tissue trafficking.

Chinese state-run media covered broadly statements made by Huang Jiefu, Director of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, at the opening of 3rd China International Organ Donation Conference in Xi’an in late September.  He claimed China will surpass the world in number of organ transplants by 2020 and China’s transplant community is “willing to share our experience and wisdom in this field with other countries." Overseas media repeated Huang’s comments which included reports of dramatic increases in voluntary donations. However, given China’s complete lack of transparency regarding organ sourcing, there is no way of knowing if these donations come from ordinary Chinese citizens or represent organs from prisoners of conscience that have been reclassified as “voluntary.”

After attending the organ donation conference in Xi’an, Francis Delmonico, Chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Task Force of Donation and Transplantation of Organs and Tissues, who is also a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) Council, met with the Pope at the Vatican to discuss China's reform surrounding organ transplantation and its efforts to fight organ trafficking. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Chancellor of Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences, was also in attendance. Unfortunately, none of those present acknowledged the voluminous body of evidence indicating that China has not made any substantive reform to date and that the killing of religious believers and other prisoners of conscience for their organs continues unabated.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses “soft power” strategies to combat any opposition to its political agenda overseas. The U.S. government and media are taking steps toward thwarting infiltration into the economic sector, the electoral process, the media, the film industry, and the educational system through CCP directed Confucius Institutes.

The response of the US government and the media to the CCP’s insidious reach is important for those of us working to expose China’s transplantation crimes. Namely, a more pervasive, subtle and unchecked form of propaganda has the danger of influencing a wider audience, thereby interfering not only with the medical community’s awareness of forced organ harvesting but also the general public’s understanding of what the CCP is doing to its own citizens.

Read full article here

President Trump Orders Persecutors of Falun Gong Accountable Under Magnitsky Act

By directive of President Donald Trump, the U.S. State Department will enforce the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act by investigating those suspected of human rights abuses, including those suspected of participating in the persecution of Falun Gong. The President stated, “Over the coming weeks and months, agencies will undertake thorough interagency vetting to ensure we fulfill our commitment to hold perpetrators of human rights abuses and corruption accountable.”

Falun Dafa Information Center Spokesperson Testifies at Congressional Hearing

On October 11^th, the Congressional International Religious Freedom (IRF) Caucus and non-governmental organization IRF Roundtable jointly held a congressional briefing on religious freedom in China. Falun Dafa Information Center spokesperson Erping Zhang said the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is ongoing despite changes in Beijing’s leadership. Zhang urged the United States to pressure China about human rights violations, including the forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong adherents.

Bodies Exhibit Banned by Swiss Officials Over Human Rights Concerns

City officials in Lausanne, Switzerland cancelled the scheduled exhibition of “Real Human Bodies” at the urging of British human rights organization Action by Christians Against Torture (ACAT). ACAT asserted that “the bodies used in this exhibition are very probably those of Chinese prisoners who were tortured or executed and members of the Falun Gong movement, which is banned in China.”

Bristol Against Forced Organ Harvesting Demands City Cut Ties with Guangzhou

The city of Bristol, United Kingdom receives significant financial investment from China as part of its “twinned city” relationship with the Chinese city of Guangzhou. Concerned that this partnership implies approval of Chinese policies, the non-profit organization Bristol Against Forced Organ Harvesting is calling on Bristol’s City Council to cut ties with Guangzhou, which is home to the world’s largest transplant hospital and likely a key participant in China’s systematic forced organ harvesting program.

Australian Academic Continues Campaign of China’s Misinformation and Propaganda

Campbell Frasier, senior lecturer at Griffith University’s Department of International Business and Asian Studies is being investigated for the third time on allegations of academic misconduct and making defamatory statements about members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Frasier, often quoted by Chinese state media, claims organ harvesting from Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience does not exist despite independent research showing that organ harvesting, the forced removal of organs from unwilling donors, is widespread and ongoing in China. He is currently banned from speaking to the media on the subject or traveling abroad.

Prominent Author Claims all Levels of Australian Politics Influenced by Chinese State

The publishing of Silent Invasion: Chinese Influence in Australia, a book written by respected Australian intellectual and author Clive Hamilton, was delayed as the original publisher, Allen & Unwin, feared an onslaught of defamation suits from Australian nationals loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. Hamilton’s book has since been published by Hardie Grant Books who, unlike the initial publisher, did not kowtow to CCP pressure.

Fundamental Flaws in China’s Justice System Encourage Corruption and Abuse

 In China, confessions, not evidence, is still the primary way to secure convictions. Confessions are often extorted under torture. Ms. Zhu claims her son was wrongfully executed for murder not only because the real killer bribed the judge but because the healthy 28-year-old’s organs were valuable. "We demanded to see the remains of my son, but the court refused, we wanted to see whether my child's body was intact. They only gave us a slip of paper to collect his ashes the next day. It means they took his organs.”

Xinjiang Airport Human Organ Priority Line Seen as Proof of Organ Harvesting

Japanese journalist Hataru Nomura calls China’s vivisecting of those deemed undesirable to fuel its hugely profitable transplant industry as “none other than the devil’s business model.” China has a database of blood type, DNA, fingerprint, and eye color for 40 million Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, and Christians. The priority lane marked “Special Passengers, Human Organ Exportation Lane,” installed in Kashgar Airport, Xinjing Uyghur Autonomous Region, can be considered additional proof of China’s ever-expanding organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.