China to cut executed inmates’ organ donations

China has launched a national organ donation system to try to reduce its dependence on body parts harvested from executed prisoners, who make up the majority of donors, state media reported Wednesday.

Organ transplantation in China has long been criticized as profit-driven and unethical, with critics arguing death row inmates might feel pressured to become donors, violating personal, religious or cultural beliefs.

The World Health Organization and international human rights groups welcomed the new system, saying it was in line with best practices in other countries and would likely help meet the needs of all patients.

The move is China’s latest step to better regulate organ transplants. Medical officials agreed in 2007 not to transplant organs from prisoners or others in custody, except into members of their immediate families.

But in a rare disclosure about an industry often criticized for being opaque, the China Daily newspaper said Wednesday that more than 65 percent of organ donors come from death row.

Though the figure could not be confirmed with the government, Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu has publicly acknowledged in recent years that most organs used for transplants are taken from executed prisoners, though only with prior consent.

Condemned prisoners are “definitely not a proper source for organ transplants,” the China Daily quoted Huang as saying.

With the new donor system launched Tuesday, the Health Ministry and Red Cross Society of China want to reduce that proportion by encouraging the normally hesitant general public to donate organs after they die.