Jul 8, 2006

Tanya Ma and Louis Yip are horrified by a report saying fellow Falun Gong practitioners are being killed for their organs in China, but they also feel vindicated.

Former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) David Kilgour released his 45-page report Thursday following a three-month investigation into claims of human organ harvesting.

"I don't think anyone can have any doubts that this unbelievable practice is continuing," Mr. Kilgour said. "They take both kidneys, then the hair and the skin and the corneas and the liver, and your body is then thrown in the incinerator."

Mr. Yip, a Markham resident who has followed the spiritual practice for seven years, has been watching developments closely.

"I feel very sad that a lot of our practitioners have died as a result of the organ harvesting in China but this report helps us to shed some light on the atrocities in China. This helps our cause. Mr. Kilgour has a long-standing reputation for fighting for human rights, " Mr. Yip said.

"I'd like to see all governments do something. This is a crime against humanity. Countries across the world should tell China to stop doing it," he said.

Of the 60,000 organ transplants the China Medical Organ Transplant Association recorded in the past five years, 18,500 came from identifiable sources, leaving 41,500 transplants from no explained source, the report states.

As well, Mr. Kilgour quotes an organ price list on a website for a transplant centre in Shenyang City, which offers kidneys for $62,000 US, livers for $130,000 and lungs for up to $170,000.

"When you call China, you're told that people can get a transplant very quickly and the prices are dropping because so many people are being killed,' Ms Ma said.

"This report will do much to raise awareness. This is happening. It's true," she said.

Practitioners staged a protest in New Market in April to draw attention to what they called a "state-run extermination camp" in China.

The [People's] Republic of China denies organ harvest camps exist.

[...]

Category: Organ Harvesting