Philly.com

By Jing Fang and Jessica D. Russo

China is murdering its own people through the practice of live, forced organ harvesting. This is what the U.S. government has acknowledged as a result of the recent introduction of Resolution 281 in the House of Representatives.

Chinese hospitals perform up to 20,000 transplants every year, and more than 90 percent of the organs come from prisoners. Yet Amnesty International estimates – and this is a conservative estimate – that there are 1,700 executions annually in China. (No one can know for sure how many prisoners are executed, as this is considered a state secret.) Despite the gap between transplants and executions, wait times for organs are unusually short compared with the West, and transplant procedures are even made in advance.

With voluntary organ donations being essentially nonexistent in China due to traditional beliefs, who, then, makes up this large pool of donors? The evidence suggests that it is practitioners of Falun Gong, a meditation system based on ancient Chinese principles.

For example, the number of organ transplants in China increased significantly after 1999, corresponding with the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong. When questioned by undercover investigators, surgeons have unknowingly admitted to having used or being able to obtain vital organs from Falun Gong practitioners.

About two-thirds of those in China’s reeducation-through-labor camps are Falun Gong practitioners, and these prisoners often receive the longest sentences and are subjected to the worst forms of torture. At the same time, their blood and organ function is tested, and, as H.R. 281 points out, these are not medical exams generally given to other prisoners.

H.R. 281 calls for an end to this atrocious genocide and, if passed, will be an important step in exposing and stopping what has been referred to as a “new form of evil on this planet.” The resolution will send a strong message to the Chinese people that the United States will not tolerate such atrocious violations of human rights and will hold all perpetrators accountable. It will also serve to protect U.S. citizens, doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies that may be unwitting accomplices to these heinous crimes.

We urge you to contact your representatives in Congress and ask them to cosponsor this crucial piece of legislation.

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Jing Fang is deputy director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting. Jessica D. Russo is an adviser to the group. E-mail the writers at jing.fang@dafoh.org and Drjdrusso@gmail.com.

Original article