China to ban human organ sales in black market crackdown News
China to ban human organ sales in black market crackdown

[JURIST] The Chinese Ministry of Health [official website, in Chinese] announced Tuesday that it will ban the sale of human organs in an effort to stem a rising black market trade [Independent report] for organs of executed prisoners. The Ministry announced stricter regulations taking effect July 1 that will require written consent from organ donors and will limit the number of hospitals at which transplants are performed. Cases brought under the new regulation will be handled by an ethics committee.

Although the regulations lack binding legal effect, the World Health Organization [official website; China backgrounder] said it was a step in the right direction. The organ trade in China largely focused on executed prisoners [2001 US State Dept. testimony], with rights groups estimating that between 5,000 and 12,000 prisoners are executed each year. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

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