China to Stop Using Executed Prisoners as Source of Transplant Organs

December 4, 2014

(The Guardian) – China will stop using executed prisoners as a source of organs for transplants from 1 January, the head of the country’s organ donation committee has said. The move, which has been widely welcomed by human rights groups, will worsen the huge shortfall in organs in the short term. Death row prisoners have provided the overwhelming majority of transplanted organs for years, owing to high demand and low donation rates. But in future their organs will only be used if they volunteer to donate and their families approve the decision.