Organs are being taken for transplantation from the living bodies of thousands of detainees in China’s labour camps – a big story out of the world’s biggest country. Couple this with a current surge in transplant operations being performed in China’s hospitals in advance of hastily cobbled-together restrictions on transplants that take effect July 1 and we have a breaking news story worth investigating thoroughly.
Yet major media, if they have reported on this story at all, have reported mostly or only the Chinese Communist Party’s canned and predictable official denials.
Since March 9, The Epoch Times has been reporting this story on the web and in print, in English, Chinese and other languages. We have available:
·Transcripts of interviews with two sources who have inside information about one of the hospitals that was removing organs from living Falun Gong practitioners.
· Letters and phone transcripts from other sources corroborating the existence of an extensive network of detention facilities and hospitals colluding in this lucrative and deadly trade in human organs.
All this information is available for other media to read, evaluate and quote as needed with a few clicks of a mouse.
Yet, with few exceptions, when this story has been covered by other media, none of this material has been referenced and none of our staff has been contacted.
To be frank, it appears that you’re missing the story through lack of effort.
Following are some events that have been reported by Western media in a one-sided or lopsided fashion:
· March 28: A Bejiing press conference to deny the existence of the organ transplantation setups.
· April 11: City and hospital spokespersons in Sujiatun, northeast China, deny the organ trade and threaten to sue The Epoch Times.
· April 14: U.S. consular officials report finding nothing after twice touring the hospital in Sujiatun.
The reports repeated only the Chinese officials’ words, without quoting Epoch Times articles or spokespersons or, apparently, representatives of Falun Gong. Many articles on these events were headlined, “China Denies…” but many of the media had not previously reported whatever it was that China was denying. “China” – actually the Chinese Communist Party – gets the first, last and only word in these media.
On March 31, The Epoch Times reported that a military doctor stated nothing would be found if Sujiatun were investigated . All the evidence would have been destroyed and any remaining detainees would have been transferred, he said. This can be deduced through common sense and knowledge of the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). No surprise, then, when U.S. officials investigated Sujiatun weeks after the initial story broke and found nothing.
Reporters for Western media are being led around by the nose by the CCP.
Organ transplants in China have been the subject of several U.S. congressional hearings over the years. Other media have reported these organ harvesting practices in the past, including, for example, CNN on June 28, 2001. (See http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/28/china.organ/)
Here are some relevant facts, among the many reported by The Epoch Times, on this organ-harvesting story:
· Our sources stressed that the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners peaked between 2001 and 2003. Falun Gong practitioners have been incarcerated since 1999.
· Liver transplants in China rose from a nationwide total of 78 during the years 1991-1998 to 118 in 1999, 254 in 2000, 486 in 2001, 996 in 2002 and more than 3,000 in 2003.
· Doctors in China, phoned to ask about the availability of kidneys, indicated a fresh organ can be found in as little as two days. In the U.S., those needing transplants must wait years for an available, properly matched organ.
· Accounting for widely different blood and tissue types in populations, the number of potential donors available to guarantee such a quick turnaround must at least be in the thousands.
· Due to traditional Chinese beliefs, very few Chinese willingly donate their organs or those of family members.
· Follow the money: sample prices quoted for foreigners seeking transplants in China: kidney: $62,000; heart: $170,000; cornea: $30,000.
It is not too late to jump on this story.
We have confirmed that in hospitals across China, there is a push to provide organ operations before the end of April. The statements from doctors (recorded and available in audio format on our website) are shocking. One doctor admitted that all organs were from Falun Gong practitioners. Others indicated that they were harvested from live bodies.
The Epoch Times encourages governments and other media to use their resources to fully investigate the growing evidence and shine a public spotlight on what is a deliberate and horrifying extermination of human life for profit. Look not just at the cleaned-up Sujiatun, but at the entire network of labour camps, other detention facilities and hospitals in China.
On April 16, Peter Worthington of the Sun newspaper chain in Canada wrote this: “A monstrous example of ‘inhumanity for profit’ seems underway in China today, of which much of our mainstream media are not yet aware or don’t find credible, because of unimaginable revulsion.”
We join him in his call that it is the civic duty of the media to dig deeply in situations such as these, where human lives hang in the balance.
We request you, our colleagues in the media, to fairly and accurately represent the sources of information, as well as The Epoch Times itself, in your reporting on the harvesting of the organs of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
This story originally appeared in The Epoch Times on April 19, 2006 and is reprinted with permission.
