Organ theft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Organ theft is the practice of stealing people's organs via surgery while they are under the influence of drugs, or once the person is dead, when the organs can be illicitly removed and then used for further purposes such as transplants or sold on the black market. The practice is occasionally advanced as a theory into mysterious disappearances or murders, and is then advanced by sensationalist news reports, followed by word-of-mouth promotion as an urban legend. Its semicredible basis, in fact, is the extreme difficulty with which organs can be preserved postmortem (usually requiring a braindead but still functionally alive patient), and the long waiting lists for available organs. There has never been sufficient evidence, however, to suggest that the practice has ever occurred on an organized basis. This has not prevented its repeated depiction in horror movies and fiction, as well as countless urban legends.

Contents 1 Organ theft events 2 Organ sale 3 See also 4 Bibliography 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Organ theft events

It has been confirmed that the organs of a number of prisoners in China were taken for transplant after their executions (though ostensibly with their freely-given permission)^[1] on a for-profit basis, often to foreign nationals. The Chinese authoritarian justice system is alleged to work very quickly for those sentenced to death, not allowing significant time for appeals. This has led to allegations that the entire justice system has been corrupted by a government approved system of organ theft. Among those making this claim are Harry Wu and the Laogai Research Foundation. Until 2006, the Chinese government did not have a specific law in place outlawing the acquisition of organs without express consent. However, even with this new statute, other conflicting statutes remain, including that which allows State prisons to use prisoners in whatever way it deems beneficial to the State.

In July 2006, former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour, and Human Rights Lawyer David Matas, published a report concluding that "...large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners are victims of systematic organ harvesting, whilst still alive..." ^[2]

In The Hunt: Me and War criminals, Carla Del Ponte claims that Kosovo Albanians smuggled human organs of kidnapped Serbs after the Kosovo war ended in 1999.

[edit] Organ sale

Although illegal in most countries, the sale of organs is common.^[3][4][5] Accurate statistics are hard to come by, but in March 2007, one estimate was that 5 to 10% of the world's kidney transplants involved compensation.^[6] Although many reports that this trade has involved coercion or kidnapping (thus becoming organ theft) have turned out to be just rumors,^[7] some cases have involved theft, for example the 2008 kidney ring run by doctor Amit Kumar in India.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Alder Hey organs scandal
• Capital punishment in the People's Republic of China
• Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH)
• Harry Wu
• Human Tissue Authority
• Laogai Research Foundation
• Organ transplant
• Organlegging
• Shichinin no Tomurai (Japanese dark comedy film which deals with organized organ theft)

[edit] Bibliography

• Marie-Monique Robin, Voleurs d'yeux (1995 Albert Londres award)
• Joel Bast, How Claims Spread: Cross-National Diffusion of Social Problems, chapter: The Diffusion of Organ Theft Narratives
• Michael Parmly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights Washington, DC June 27, 2001

[edit] References

1. ^ BBC News - Organ sales 'thriving' in China 27/09/06
2. ^ David Matas and David Kilgour (31 January 2007), An Independent Investigation into Allegations of organ Harvesting of Falun gong practitioners in china
3. ^ International Summit On Transplant Tourism And Organ Trafficking (Sep 2008), "The Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism", Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN 3 (5): 1227–31, doi:10.2215/CJN.03320708, ISSN 1555-9041, PMID 18701611 
4. ^ Nullis-Kapp Clare (2004 September), "Organ trafficking and transplantation pose new challenges", Bulletin of the World Health Organization 82 (9): 715, PMC: 2622992, http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/82/9/feature0904/en/index.html 
5. ^ Kumar, S. (2003), "Police uncover large scale organ trafficking in Punjab", BMJ 326: 180b, doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7382.180/b, PMID 12543823 
6. ^ Budiani-Saberi, Da; Delmonico, Fl (May 2008), "Organ trafficking and transplant tourism: a commentary on the global realities.", American journal of transplantation 8 (5): 925–9, doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2008.02200.x, ISSN 1600-6135, PMID 18416734 
7. ^ Jeneen Interlandi (Jan 19, 2009), "Not Just Urban Legend", Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/178873 
8. ^ Sara Sidner and Tess Eastment (January 29, 2008), "Police hunt for doctor in kidney-snatching ring", CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/29/india.transplant/index.html?iref=mpstoryview 

[edit] External links

• http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/29/india.transplant/index.html?iref=mpstoryview January 29, 2008
• BBC News - Sellafield organ removal inquiry 18/04/2007
• The Epoch Times - New Witness Confirms Existence of Chinese Concentration Camp, Says Organs Removed from Live Victims
• CNN.com Law Center - UCLA suspends its Willed Body Program 09/03/2004