Victoria Times Colonist:

Ottawa urged to halt China transplant trips

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=44dc91c5-20fb-49f7-8524-7fdf248b869a

Regime takes organs from Falun Gong practitioners, says report by former MP

Kirstin Endemann, CanWest News Service

OTTAWA July 06, 2006 --The Canadian government should revoke the passports of Canadians suspected of travelling to China for transplants and deny visas to Chinese doctors wanting to study transplants here, says a contentious report written by a former MP.

The report, to be released today, supports allegations China has been engaged in a program to harvest the organs of Falun Gong practitioners. It was conducted by former Liberal and Independent MP David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas at the request of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China and Ottawa-based Falun Dafa Association and with the support of seven sitting MPs.

In the report, Kilgour affirms the accuracy of allegations that detained followers of Falun Gong -- a practice banned in China since 1999 -- are having their kidneys, heart, liver and corneas harvested without consent. They are then cremated.

"We've both been very shaken up by these stories. It's hard to believe this can go on anywhere in the world in this new century where human beings are supposed to matter," Kilgour said.

Kilgour said his investigation was primarily made up of interviews, after applications to travel to China to conduct research were denied.

One of the key witnesses was the wife of a surgeon, neither of whom are Falun Gong practitioners, who confessed to having removed more than 2,000 corneas of unwilling Falun Gong detainees over a two-year period, Kilgour said.

Chinese Embassy spokeswoman Wenxing Zuo categorically denied there was any policy to forcibly harvest organs, dismissing such as "rumours spread by the Falun Gong." She said organs are harvested from executed prisoners, but only with written consent.

Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006