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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Taiwan asked to bar citizens from organ transplants in China

Lai Ching-Te thinks Taiwan's international image would be damaged if stolen organs (from Mainland China) are transplanted into Taiwanese people. He also asks the Legislative Yuan to invite Canadian parliament members or anyone else who has participated in the investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong practitioners to visit Taiwan, so the Taiwanese people can learn the truth. Eighty-nine members of the Legislative Yuan have co-signed the bill. (more)

That's the spirit -- three cheers for Taiwan!

by Hou Sheng-mou.

'They urged Taiwan to pass law barring its citizens from going to China for organ transplant because it encourages the illegal trade in human organs,' said Huang Shih-wei, a Taiwan campaigner who took part in the meeting.

'They said Germany has passed a law banning citizens from receiving organ transplants abroad, and Indonesia has stopped providing post-transplant care to its citizens who have received organ transplants abroad. Taiwan should take similar action,' Huang said.

'Hou admitted that out of every three recipients of organ transplants, one received it in Taiwan and two received it in China. But he said time is not ripe for Taiwan to pass the legislation,' Huang said.

Huang however suggest that Taiwan could raise public awareness as well as take punitive measures against Taiwanese doctors who brokered organ transplants from China.

Kilgour and Matas launched an independent investigation into allegations that Chinese hospitals have been harvesting organs from executed prisoners and selling the organs both for profit and to raise China's level of human organ transplants.

On July 6, they issued a report showing evidence of China's harvesting organs from convicts, especially members of the banned Falung Gong sect.

They are now on an Asian tour to urge Asian countries to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in view of Beijing's poor human rights record, and to bar their citizens from going to China for organ transplants.

Having already visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, they plan to visit Japan and South Korea next.

According to the Taiwan Department of Health, some 450 Taiwanese go to China every year to receive organ transplants due to long waiting lists in Taiwan.

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