CHINA. RANDOM TRANSPLANT OF ORGANS FROM CRIMINALS "UNTRUE"

a senior Chinese health official described a report about China's random transplant of organs from executed criminals as "untrue" and a "malicious slander". Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told a press conference that most organs in the organ transplant operations in China were from voluntary donations made by Chinese citizens, with a few of these from death penalty criminals who had voluntarily signed the donation. The organs from executed criminals were adopted only when they had voluntarily signed or their relatives had agreed to donate their organs, Mao said. "This is the same case as the voluntary donation from ordinary citizens and the requirements are the same too," he noted.