A group of Australian researchers has requested the retraction of more than 400 scientific articles following the publication in the journal BMJ Open of work revealing that countless human organs have been harvested unethically from Chinese prisoners in recent decades.
The study reviewed scientific research documents published from January 2000 to April 2017 comprising 445 studies involving 85,477 transplants. 92.5% of these studies failed to indicate whether the organs were harvested from executed prisoners and 99% failed to indicate whether donors had consented to the transplant. The researchers denounce the lack of information on the reality of organ donation in China. “There’s no real pressure from research leaders on China to be more transparent [about these studies]“, lamented Wendy Rogers, Professor of Clinical Ethics at Macquarie University and author of the study.
This is the first time that this type of study has been carried out. The study concludes that, “as a result, a large body of unethical published research now exists, raising questions of complicity to the extent that the transplant community uses and benefits from the results of this research“.
For further reading:
UN denounces organ trafficking
Organ transplantation in China – good developments or hidden trafficking?
Fox News, Christopher Carbone (6/02/19) – ‘Barbaric’: Human organs harvested from Chinese prisoners prompts outrage, call for retraction of 400 scientific papers
LaLibre.be (11/02/19) – Des prisonniers chinois exécutés pour… leurs organes