China harvesting inmates' organs

By Aussiegirl

This is truly horrendous news, but it's nothing new. The second link I have provided has an article dating back to 2001, but I can only assume that it's been going on a lot longer than only five years. It's all too dreadful to contemplate.

China harvesting inmates' organs, journalist says-Nation/Politics-The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

A Chinese journalist has uncovered a secret detention center in northern China that is being used by a hospital to harvest human organs for sale to domestic and international buyers.
Jin Zhong, a pseudonym for the journalist who fled China recently, also said in an interview that a failed Chinese intelligence operation led to the 2004 death of a Japanese diplomat who committed suicide rather than give up secrets. On the prisoner abuse, Mr. Jin said he first learned of the harvesting operation between October and December and that the prisoners used were members of the outlawed Falun Gong religious group.
"This is murder, and murder sponsored by a state," said Mr. Jin, who in the past has been a contributor to a Japanese news agency. "It must be stopped."

[...] Mr. Jin said bodies of the prisoners were burned in the boiler room of the hospital and that boiler room workers had taken jewelry and watches from the dead and sold them. He said he has provided information about the organ harvesting to U.S. government officials, including members of Congress.
A Chinese Embassy spokesman could not be reached for comment.

For additional articles about this horrible practice, see here. This link includes the following short article, dated September 13, 2005, that I'm quoting in full:

A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.
Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about".