David Kilgour, a former member of the Canadian Parliament and a Canadian Crown Prosecutor was in San Francisco as a part of an international tour to encourage public awareness about his findings on the organ harvesting in China. Kilgour has been investigating the practice of organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in China.
Over the past month, David Kilgour, along with the reports co-author, David Matas, have together or separately visited Hong Kong, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, London, Washington, New York, Boston, and Australia to bring attention to this issue in the media, as well as among legislators, diplomats, and the public.
In San Francisco, David Kilgour spoke at an open public forum. He stated at a press conference held at the World's Affair Center that his visit aims to "raise enough fuss to help cause the government of China to end the organ seizure practices now while it is presumably listening to the world out of concern for the success of its Olympic Games in 2008."
The 2008 Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Beijing, and human rights activists are concerned that the human rights situation in China has further deteriorated. The most recent reports include shocking revelations about organ harvesting for profit from living prisoners. Even more shocking is that the victims are prisoners of conscience, and most of them are followers of Falun Gong.
"Nobody is criticizing the long suffering people in China," said David Kilgour at the press conference. "We are talking about the government of China, specifically the Communist Party officials at the top."
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly also attended the event. "It's illegal internationally and it's illegal in the country of China as well," says Daly, a staunch supporter of human rights.
"San Francisco is not just an international city but a city with a particular relationship and interest in the country of China," says Supervisor Daly. He also said that he's "not sure what official act in San Francisco this report would lead to."
Lou Hongwei, a Cambridge graduate who also spoke at the conference, visited San Francisco to try to help rescue her husband who is an employee of the Asia Foundation based in San Francisco.
Her husband Bu Dongwei was taken away from his residence in Beijing by the police on May 19. Lou says the only reason for his arrest that she could ascertain from authorities was that he practices Falun Gong. His whereabouts are unknown since the arrest.
Falun Gong is a spiritual practice from China rooted in the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. Practitioners say they keep their conduct in line with these principles and achieve health by practicing meditation and slow-motion exercises.
Falun Gong was banned in China in 1999 by then the leader of the Communist Party Jiang Zemin as a result of its overwhelming popularity.
"Back in 2000 we thought Chinese officials had a misunderstanding about Falun Gong, so we wrote a letter to the top officials of the government. A month later about 10 policemen came to our workplace to arrest us. We were sent to the Beijing's Detention Center and without any legal proceedings we were sentenced to one year forced labor in July 2000," said Lou.
The Labor Camp Hospital conducted a thorough physical examination upon their arrival including an eye examination, collection of blood samples and other medical tests.
"The examinations were very suspicious. We were tortured and beaten every day. I don't think they cared about our health condition. We wondered why they were doing these medical tests."
It's unclear how many Americans go to China for transplants, but it's easy to find Chinese hospitals offering transplants to foreigners with money on Internet. For example, the going rates for organs at the China International Organ Transplant Center are around $62,000 for a kidney, between $98,000 and $130,000 for a liver, anywhere from $150,000 to $170,000 for a lung transplant and between $130,000 and $160,000 for a heart.
Hospital websites in China advertise short waiting times for organ transplants—1 to 2 weeks versus years elsewhere—or that they have living "donors " available almost on demand, according to the report by Kilgour and Matas.
Kilgour stated that he and Matas have discovered evidence that demonstrates a strong case for the fact that hospitals, detention centers, and even courts in China have since 2001 put to death a large number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience.
The report is a culmination of a two-month independent investigation, and is titled Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China. It was released on July 6, 2006, and can be viewed at http://organharvestinvestigation.net .