For millions of ailing Chinese patients awaiting organ transplants, the creation of an orderly and transparent system for managing donation and transplantation could be a great boon. But the recent announcement that China’s government is implementing such a system should be eyed skeptically, as the country’s record on issues of organ harvesting and donation is pitted with deception and empty promises. The organ “shortages” common in other countries are exacerbated in China by traditions about death: the beliefs that a dead body must remain intact before burial to be ensured eternal rest and that death occurs only when breathing ceases … Continue reading China’s Organ Market