China begins phasing out prisoner organs next year

A Chinese woman performs a morning exercise next to a family members having a light moment with their infant at the Ritan Park in Beijing Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. A government think tank says China should start phasing out its one-child policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015. It remains unclear whether Chinese leaders are ready to take that step. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING — A health official says China will early next year start phasing out its reliance on organs from executed prisoners for transplants as a new national system of donations is implemented.

Wang Haibo says in an interview in the November edition of the World Health Organization’s journal Bulletin that Chinese officials acknowledge that a transplantation system that uses mostly organs from death-row prisoners is neither ethical nor sustainable.

Wang is a Health Ministry official who is leading the country’s efforts to design a nationwide organ donation system.

Organ transplantation in China has long been criticized as opaque, profit-driven and unethical. Critics argue death row inmates may feel pressured to become donors, violating personal, religious or cultural beliefs.