Executed Chinese prisoners skinned for collagen treatments

The Register ^ | September 13, 2005 | Lucy Sherriff

[Cautor]

Skin from prisoners executed in China is being used to develop cosmetic collagen treatments aimed at the European market, according to The Guardian.

The newspaper says that agents from a China-based company claim the skin, which is taken from prisoners after they have been shot, is being used to develop the collagen for anti-aging treatments such as wrinkle and lip-filling injections.

[Cautor]

Wonder if Pelosi has benefitted (ahem, I use that term very loosely) from any of this stuff?

[NickatNite2003]

They harvested their ogans too, and have been
selling them on the medical black market since
the Tianimen Square massacre.

[Cautor]

"They harvested their ogans too"

Nice guys those CHICOMS. Only a Slick Willy could love'em enough let them donate to his election funds.

[Slump Tester]

...Only a Slick Willy could love'em enough let them donate to his election funds.>

AND give them staging and guidance systems for their missles.

[auburntiger]

"Nice guys those CHICOMS. Only a Slick Willy could love'em enough let them donate to his election funds."

Let's not be too selfrighteous. They are one of our biggest trading partners and we continue to prop up the regime.

Remember the cheap shirts, electronics and other goods that we love to buy from them knowing full well that much of it is manufactured by slave labor? If it wasn't for our trade with China they would not be as powerful as they are.

(Oh, I forgot. If we trade long enough with them they will accept democracy.)

[Cautor]

"Oh, I forgot. If we trade long enough with them they will accept democracy"

Most unlikely: http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/Politics/2005/08/29/1125279216.htm

We do business with a lot of unsavory nations, Venezuela being one example. It would be nice to be pure, but not possible in today's global economy.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It's a Faustian bargain; as long as China sees us as an indispensible customer they will huff and puff and bluster but nothing more. Nothing would kill their golden egg quicker than nuking the USA, Taiwan or no Taiwan. But in the process we prop up a system that sends a schmoe to the pokey for 10 years because he told the world something obvious.

[Cautor]

I think you have given us an accurate description of the present conundrum we face as regards the PRC.

[auburntiger]

Then let's just continue to be impure and stop worrying about morality in international relations. It makes our lives so much simpler.

[Cautor]

whatever

[ladyinred]

Oh ick! I hope they aren't in any products I use! The total disregard for LIFE in the world today is appalling and frankly, frightening.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Also reported here:

China shot prisoners cosmetics

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1568622,00.html

The reason I even looked for it was thanks to Savage. If I'm not mistaken, he was one of the few in talk radio who brought it up.

Here are some snippets:

...It is also unclear whether collagen made from prisoners' skin is in the research stage or is in production. However, the Guardian has learned that the company has exported collagen products to the UK in the past. An agent told customers it had also exported to the US and European countries, and that it was trying to develop fillers using tissue from aborted foetuses.

When formally approached by the Guardian, the agent denied the company was using skin harvested from executed prisoners. However, he had already admitted it was doing precisely this during a number of conversations with a researcher posing as a Hong Kong businessman. The Press Complaints Commission's code of practice permits subterfuge if there is no other means of investigating a matter of public interest. [snip]

... Speaking from his office in northern China, he added: "The government has put some pressure on all the medical facilities to keep this type of work in low profile." [snip]

... Hand transplants
A number of plastic surgeons have told the Guardian that they have been hearing rumours about the use of tissue harvested from executed prisoners for several years.
Peter Butler, a consultant plastic surgeon and government adviser, said there had been rumours that Chinese surgeons had performed hand transplants using hands from executed prisoners. One transplant centre was believed to be adjacent to an execution ground. "I can see the utility of it, as they have access and no ethical objection," he said. [snip]

... Dan Cohen, whose US-based company, Inamed, produces collagen products, said: "We have come across Chinese products in the market place. But most products from China are being sold 'off-label' or are being imported illegally." [snip]

... In June 2001, Wang Guoqi, a Chinese former military physician, told US congressmen he had worked at execution grounds helping surgeons to harvest the organs of more than 100 executed prisoners, without prior consent. The surgeons used converted vans parked near the execution grounds to begin dissecting the bodies, he told the house international relations committee's human rights panel. [snip]

XXXXXXXX Final snip: ONLY READ IF you have a strong stomach: XXXXXXXXX

... Skin was said to be highly valued for the treatment of burn victims, and Dr Wang said that in 1995 he skinned a shot convict's body while the man's heart was still beating.[snip]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"The total disregard for LIFE in the world today is appalling and frankly, frightening."

Right you are. Euthanasia ['kill Terri' for example], abortion, stem cell research, population control, animal rights, attacks on religion: this is where we are heading in the industrialized world, right back to Nazi Germany, only with newer and sicker twists. Don't be surprised if China comes out with a 'new, improved' lamp shade.

[Sarah]

I wonder what all those hollywood PETA supporters have to say about this!
Especially since it seems obvious that the chinese are sensitive to the West's aversion to these barbaric operations so it seems that these 'bio' companies are willing to hide the source of their stuff.
I can't believe that the movie 'The Island' is so on target. This situation is unbelievable. You and I both know that once there is a financial incentive for production of something, that supply will rise to demand. On top of everything, even in the States Phylis Schlafly has proof of money exchanging hands for research on aborted fetus body parts (using the shipping and handling exemption as the conduit), can you imagine the morbid incentive for some poor chinese person to be found guilty now?
I can't believe this isn't all over the news.

[F16Fighter]

China: A "Most Favored Nation" trading partner of these United States.

Disgraceful.

[AndrewB]

Well...as long as no animals were harmed...