On October 5, 2007, the Chinese Medical Association (CMA) agreed at a summit of the World Medical Association to cease the practice of harvesting organs from prisoners, except for transplant into close relatives of the donor. Prior to the agreement, China had been widely criticized in the international community for the reportedly widespread practice of harvesting organs from executed criminals and accident victims without the consent of the donors' families. China had flatly denied these allegations in the past. Despite this new CMA policy, a report from Vice-Minister of Health Huang Jiefu in August 2009 estimated that 65 percent of organs transplanted in China were from executed prisoners.

National emblem of China

Learn more about China and the laws governing organ transplant from the JURIST news archive.

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