© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

China To End Organ Harvesting From Executed Inmates

Relatives of deceased organ donors mourn for them at a ceremony unveiling a monument for the organ donors in April in Chongqing, China.
Feature China/ Barcroft Media
/
Barcroft Media/Landov
Relatives of deceased organ donors mourn for them at a ceremony unveiling a monument for the organ donors in April in Chongqing, China.

China says it will halt the controversial practice of harvesting human organs for transplant from executed prisoners beginning on Jan. 1 in what The New York Times describes as "the firmest deadline given to date for ending" the practice.

Human Rights activists have long charged that taking organs from condemned prisoners could have the effect of hastening the pace of such executions — especially since China's supply falls far short of the need for transplant surgeries.

China already puts to death more prisoners than any other country, a figure that Amnesty International guessed at last year as in the "thousands."

In 2012, Beijing announced that it would phase-out the practice as part of a larger move to overhaul its organ transplant system, with the aim of abolishing it within five years.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "[while] China already forbids organ donations without the consent of the donor or the family, critics have said inmates can feel pressured to sign away their organs and that the source of organs isn't well supervised.

"Officials have previously said that China depended for years on executed prisoners as its main source of organ supply for ailing citizens. About 65% of transplants in China use organs from deceased donors, over 90% of whom were executed prisoners, according to a 2011 paper co-written by Mr. Huang [Jiefu, the director of China's Human Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee,] in the medical journal Lancet. The paper said China is the only country that systematically uses organs from executed prisoners."

So far this year, organs have been collected from 1,500 people in China who consented to be donors on their deaths, according to WSJ.

"That exceeds a total of 1,448 voluntary donors for the previous three years.

"By comparison, last year in the United States, with a smaller population, 14,256 people donated organs, including 8,268 deceased donors and 5,988 living donors, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

Related Content