China Plans To Stop Harvesting Organs From Executed Prisoners

cold fjord writes "The People's Republic of China continues its long march toward liberalization with two steps forward (And one+ step back?). The BBC reports, 'A senior Chinese official has said the country will phase out the practice of taking organs from executed prisoners from November. Huang Jiefu said China would now rely on using organs from voluntary donors under a new national donation system. Prisoners used to account for two-thirds of transplant organs, based on previous estimates from state media. For years, China denied that it used organs from executed prisoners, but admitted it a few years ago... Human rights groups estimate that China executes thousands of prisoners a year, but correspondents say that the official figures remain a state secret.'"

Re:Um, why?

[Neil Boekend]

There are many stories about generals who needed an organ so a prisoner incarcerated with a minor offense suddenly changed status to "death row" and was executed within days (no appeal).

I have no information on the validity of those stories, but once you grant people power there will be those who abuse it. If you don't know it, The Stanford prison experiment [wikipedia.org] may horrify you. There is a reason some experiments are not repeated. These were normal people.
The Milgram experiment [wikipedia.org] is repeated, although the implications are about as shocking. The psychological damage to the test subjects is less though.

The death penalty is a little different there

[sirwired]

Are you seriously wondering why they are stopping?

You seem to be laboring under the mistaken belief that the death penalty is the same there as it is here. In China, they routinely execute political dissidents, politically-active members of disfavored minority groups, thieves, embezzlers, etc. Any trial that occurs is rather perfunctory. Yes, there are your typical death-row murderers and rapists too, but the high-volume organ supply comes from political prisoners, as they are easier to "warehouse" due to being less violent. They have their blood tested after arrest, and then are executed when a customer requires an organ.