Sad reality behind transplant research

Many articles on organ transplants published in English-language academic journals do not meet international ethical standards because they use research into organs that may have been taken from executed Chinese prisoners, according to an Australian study.

Researchers at Macquarie University reviewed articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2017 with the help of research conducted in mainland China on Chinese organ transplants.

Human rights organizations have expressed concern over the Chinese organ donation system, which would use organs taken from the bodies of executed prisoners, although it has begun to adopt a voluntary withdrawal system.

The 445 studies of more than 85,000 transplants almost certainly include data on prisoners, "since China has recognized that during this period the executed prisoners were the main organ donors".

Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Transplantation Society have condemned the use of transplanted organs of death row inmates, including research on such transplants, the newspaper said.

Although 73% of the reviewed studies were approved by a review committee, more than 92% did not report whether organs were taken from executed prisoners and 99% did not report if the donors had given their consent.

The lead researcher and professor of clinical ethics at Macquarie University, Wendy Rogers, said the articles should not have been sent for review, let alone published.

"We were quite shocked to find that so few questions had been asked about the origin of organs in this Chinese study," Professor Rogers told AAP.

The continued use of research raises potential problems of complicity, the document says.

"It is extremely worrying for us academics as for the medical research community in general that there is now a lot of unethical research that transplant researchers in Australia and around the world are doing. could have used and benefited, "said Professor Rogers in a report.

At the moment, there are no penalties for offenses, the newspaper says. He calls for the retraction of all studies pending an investigation and an international summit to develop and implement reporting standards on procurement of organs.

Professor Rogers would also like to see freezes such as Body Worlds Vital, currently on display at Sydney City Hall.

The organizers denied that the exposed bodies may have belonged to persecuted Chinese minorities.

Macquarie University's research was published in the BMJ Open this week.