David Kilgour (R) and David Matas

USA. CONGRESS HOLDS FIRST HEARING ON ORGAN HARVESTING

September 29, 2006: as many as 41,500 healthy people who practice Falun Gong became involuntary victims of organ transplants and murdered between 2002 and 2005, according to a report that was presented before the U.S. Congress Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-California) chaired the first Congressional hearing on the allegations, and in particular, this report. He said that now it is important for this "to get the attention of the American people."
"It's important to get this on the record officially," said Rohrabacher. Referring to the David Kilgour's and David Matas' Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China (July 6, 2006), he said it has already generated much worldwide media attention.
Rohrabacher is Chairman of the Subcommittee of Oversight and Investigations, which is under the Committee of International Relations.
Missing at the hearing was a representative from the U.S. Department of State (DOS). Congressman Rohrabacher expressed his disappointment at the DOS absence, and turned to an aid to confirm that an invitation had been extended to the DOS.
Highlights of the evidence for the alleged crimes were discussed by four witnesses, including David Kilgour and David Matas—authors of the report.
The report described China's harsh, even genocidal, policies towards Falun Gong. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Novak, found that nearly two-thirds (66%) of victims of torture and ill-treatment in Chinese prisons are people who practice Falun Gong, said Kirk C. Allison, Ph.D.
Dr. Allison is Director, Program of Human Rights and Health at the School of Public Health, Medical School, University of Minnesota. Dr. Allison said he was speaking for himself, and not for his affiliated institution.
"The systematic program of ideological eradication of Falun Gong coincided with an inexplicable increase in whole organ transplantation, and international organ transplant tourism to China," testified Dr. Allison. Between 2000 and 2005 the source of organs within China is hard to prove. Elsewhere, in a special article for the Epoch Times, Dr. Allison had looked into the source of the increase of transplant operations in China.
"Family donors or nonfamily brain-dead donors account for less than 1% of donation in China. A national voluntary donor program is undeveloped. Kidney transplants nearly tripled in the same period. Liver transplants increased nationwide from about 135 in 1998 to over 4000 in 2005. Various advertised ranged widely from about $24,000 (200,000 yuan) for Chinese to $98,000 or more U.S. dollars for foreigners," said Dr. Allison.
That would seem to leave only executed prisoners and Falun Gong detainees for this highly profitable business. China only acknowledges the executed prisoners—death row inmates--as a "minor" source for organs. But it must be large enough to require the active support and coordination of the state, notes Allison. The China International Transplant Center proudly and openly states on its website, according to Dr. Allison, who quotes from it, that the many transplantation operations are "owing to the support of the Chinese government." The names of the courts, police, judiciary and health department, etc. are listed to show potential customers the regime's "unique" role in providing this "service."
The Kilgour-Matas report states that between 2001 and 2005, there were over 41,000 recorded transplants in China without identifiable sources. Rohrabacher's own summary of the report, notes, "It is impossible to attribute all of the organ transplants in China to executed prisoners, family members, and willing donors. The increase in organ transplants in China parallels the increase in persecution of Falun Gong."
David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific and co-author of the report, spoke of "China's most bloody harvest," for which there is mounting evidence that the victims were largely Falun Gong "prisoners of conscience."
"Most of the victims were convicted of nothing; they were murdered by medical professionals for their vital organs."
"Many such patients probably hope they are getting an organ from a convicted murderer or rapist…but they should know that China has 68 offences for which one can be executed, including tax fraud. In reality, it is probable that the organ is coming from a young Falun Gong prisoner, whose crime was to believe in 'truth, compassion and forbearance'." (Fonti: The Epoch Times, 02/10/2006)