Harry Wu

Harry Wu is a Chinese dissident and human rights activist who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985. In the following viewpoint, Wu maintains that Chinese prison officials are illegally selling the organs of executed prisoners for transplantation into wealthy Asians and U.S. citizens. Such a policy is unethical, he contends, because the prisoners have not given their consent for their organs to be donated.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Wu, what percentage of kidneys used in Chinese transplant operations in 1994 came from executed prisoners?
2. What are the three cases that permit the removal of organs from the body of an executed Chinese prisoner, as cited by Wu?
3. Why are the three rules governing organ removal from executed Chinese prisoners meaningless, according to the author"

Editor’s note...