The issue first came to light in March 2006, when a woman claimed that as many as 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been killed for their organs at the hospital where she worked. Her husband, a surgeon at the same hospital outside the city of Shenyang in Northeast China, had disclosed to her that he had removed corneas from the living bodies of more than 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners between 2000 and 2001.1

On April 20, 2006, the witness appeared at a rally in front of the White House and publicly exposed the forced organ harvesting taking place in China.

In response, David Kilgour and David Matas launched an independent investigation. After months of research, including undercover interviews with doctors throughout 12 provinces in China, they came to “the regrettable conclusion that the allegations are true.” Kilgour and Matas later compiled their findings in the book Bloody Harvest.2

Starting at around the same time, investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann spent seven years doing his own research. He reached similar conclusions in his book The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem.3

Over the past decade, we investigated hundreds of transplant hospitals in China, uncovered and summarized huge quantities of data, as well as relevant policy directives that affect the growth of the transplant industry in China. Drawing upon media reports, official statements, medical journals, hospital websites, and web archives, we found that China’s transplant industry had become the most prolific in the world in just a few years despite the lack of an effective organ donation system.4 5 6 7 Furthermore, the industry continued to grow after live organ harvesting gained international attention in 2006.8

“Across China, a gruesome trade in human organs is taking place on a mass scale. Like something out of a horror movie, livers, kidneys, hearts, lungs, and corneas are being cut out from prisoners of conscience while they are still alive. If anything proves the meaning of the term ‘crime against humanity,’ it is this bloody, ghoulish practice.”

—Benedict Rogers, Deputy Chair of the U.K. Conservative Party Human Rights Commission

David Kilgour, David Matas and Ethan Gutmann published a new report in June 2016 on the continuation and scale of China’s organ harvesting.

References

1
"Bloody Harvest 31) A confession David Kilgour and David Matas"
Original: http://organharvestinvestigation.net/report0701/report20070131.htm#_Toc160145143
2
"Bloody Harvest: The killing of Falun Gong for their organs David Kilgour and David Matas"
Original: http://bloodyharvest.info/
3
"The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem Ethan Gutmann"
Original: http://ethan-gutmann.com/the-slaughter/
4
"Founder of Liver Surgery Wu Mengchao Shares Liver Disease Prevention and Secret to Long Life Source: Sina Health May 11, 2011 Reporter: Song Ruliang, etc."
Original: http://health.sina.com.cn/d/2011-05-11/145222445449.shtml
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20120327035615/http://health.sina.com.cn/d/2011-05-11/145222445449.shtml
《新浪健康》肝脏外科创始人吴孟超分享肝病防治与长寿秘诀2011年05月11日
5
"Beyond the Dark Veil of China’s Organ Trade Phoenix Weekly, September 24, 2013 The original page has been removed from:"
Original: http://www.51fenghuang.com/news/shehui/2412.html
Archived: https://archive.is/B36qx
中国人体器官买卖的黑幕 《凤凰周刊》2013-9-24
6
"Huang Jiefu: I only watched once the organ extraction procedure and felt changed needed Phoenix TV 2015-01-11"
Original: http://news.ifeng.com/a/20150111/42906812_0.shtml
Archived: https://archive.is/YxJwf
黄洁夫:我只看过一次摘取器官 觉得需要改变 凤凰卫视 2015年01月11日
7
"“Huang Jiefu: ‘Can death-row prisoners donate organ?’ is a pseudo-proposition” Beijing Youth Daily. November 23, 2015"
Original: http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2015-11/23/content_167300.htm?div=-1
Archived: https://archive.is/hSlEd
黄洁夫:死囚可否捐器官是伪命题 《北京青年报》, 2015年11月23日
8
"Introduction of Liver Transplantation Centre at The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University"
Original: http://www.transplantation.org.cn/ZheJiangDaXueFuShuDiYiYiYuanKuaiXun/2011-02/5400.htm
Archived: https://archive.is/j0gn7
浙江大学附属第一医院肝移植中心简介