This story was originally published by Real Clear Wire
Susan Crabtree
Really transparent wire
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs remains silent on her recent veto of legislation aimed at curbing China’s horrific forced organ harvesting trade that targets detained ethnic and religious minorities, including Most are Uighur Muslims, Tibetans, Christians and Falun Gong practitioners.
The April 10 veto left the legislation’s supporters and human rights activists scratching their heads. Texas, Utah and Idaho enacted similar legislation last year, and similar measures are being debated in state legislatures in Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina. The bipartisan bill would prevent health insurance plans from reimbursing individuals for any organ transplants performed in China or other U.S. rivals. They would also prohibit insurance payments for post-operative procedures related to organ transplants if the organs come from China or any other country that funds or engages in forced organ harvesting.
The versions in Idaho and Arizona also include provisions prohibiting medical reimbursement for DNA and other genetic sequencing procedures using sequencing equipment from China and other hostile countries.
China has been harvesting organs from prisoners for decades, despite the government’s initial claims that all harvested organs came from voluntary donors. However, as early as 2005, China’s top transplant doctor, who was then China’s vice minister of health, admitted that approximately 95 percent of organ transplants come from prisoners killed for their body parts.
Despite international outcry against the practice, China has stepped up its trade in organ harvesting over the past two decades, turning it into a $1 billion-a-year industry, according to international human rights experts. A growing body of research reveals a particularly reprehensible aspect of the taking of life: religious minorities and political dissidents are the main victims, with an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 people killed for their organs every year.
Other research shows that Chinese authorities conducted DNA tests on prisoners in labor camps to determine which prisoners were best suited for organ harvesting.
China vehemently denied these findings, but in 2019 the British non-governmental commission China Tribunal came to the opposite conclusion. A court has found that China’s organ trafficking industry is harvesting organs from executed prisoners on a large scale and that these actions constitute crimes against humanity.
Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Human Rights Foundation and co-chair of the annual International Religious Freedom Summit, welcomed the passage of national measures aimed at banning U.S. involvement in China’s live organ harvesting trade , calling these measures “a great encouragement to China.”
“We have known for years that China engages in the despicable and cruel practice of forced organ harvesting. We also know that the victims of this crime are often religious minorities and political dissidents,” she said in a statement. “Sadly, the beneficiaries are often wealthy patients who may not be aware of the details of this illegal practice. Nonetheless, their ignorance does not excuse their participation in this crime against humanity.
“I commend states for taking action to cut off any health care funding for this barbaric practice,” she added. “Affluent Westerners’ demand for healthy organs cannot be justified and must not be encouraged.” Cruel organ harvesting from helpless victims.”
Katie Hobbs provided a three-line explanation in issuing the veto, arguing that the measure “includes overly broad regulations on genetic sequencing equipment, creating compliance challenges for hospitals, health care providers and researchers.”
But the bill’s sponsors included language to accommodate insurance industry concerns that the bill would penalize people for inadvertently breaking the law. Michael Lucci of the National Armor Action Group, which is leading the push for state legislation to curb China’s organ harvesting trade, said neither Hobbs nor her staff had any conversations with him or others while the measure was in place. Supporters were contacted to express concerns.
“Gov. Hobbs’ veto of HB2503 is disgraceful,” Lucci told RealClearPolitics. “Government. Hobbs talked about defending women’s medical rights and medical privacy. Yet her veto… undermined all of that rhetoric.”
He added: “The Chinese government will continue to collect DNA from Arizonans while Arizona fails to fulfill its basic obligation as a state to resist the brutal practice of forced foreign organ harvesting.”
Hobbs’ office did not respond to multiple inquiries from RCP. Although China’s transplant practices have sparked international condemnation of its “tourist trade” in organs, there is no clear documented record of whether U.S. insurance companies have reimbursed residents for any costs involved in transplants in China or other countries. Supporters designed the bill to prevent any reimbursement and prohibit coverage of any post-operative care related to organ transplants that occur in China or other U.S. opponents.
“We should make it clear that when Americans interact with the Chinese Communist government, things that seem too good to be true are too good to be true,” Lucci told RCP. “China’s low costs are built on slave labor. above, and organ transplants come from political prisoners.”
“In other words, if you receive an organ transplant from China, you are on your own,” Lucci told RCP. “You have to pay for the transplant and all the follow-up care associated with the transplant.”
In recent years, the federal level has stepped up efforts to curb China’s live organ harvesting. Last year, the House of Representatives passed Republican Rep. Chris Smith’s Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act, which would impose sanctions on anyone who sponsors or facilitates forced organ harvesting or human trafficking for the purpose of organ harvesting. It also requires U.S. federal agencies to issue annual reports assessing the practices of China and other foreign adversaries.
Congress is also taking action against the Beijing Genome Institute (BGI) and Wuxi AppTec, which are already subject to U.S. export control restrictions, for illegally collecting genetic material from Americans and others and tracking ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. Genocide against the Uyghur people. BGI, a company that develops DNA technology in partnership with the Chinese military, has faced international condemnation for collecting data on millions of pregnant women in the United States and around the world.
In Europe, BGI used prenatal testing to collect genetic data from more than 8 million pregnant women without notifying them that the data would be provided to the Chinese government. The Chinese military will then use the data for research, according to the House Select Committee on China.
U.S. security agencies worry that vast repositories of genetic information could help China dominate pharmaceuticals and potentially lead to engineered pathogens that target U.S. and other foreign populations and their food supplies.
BGI faces multiple U.S. lawsuits for stealing U.S. intellectual property rights. Wuxi AppTec, which has also been accused of stealing U.S. technology, sponsored events and jointly operated gene collection sites with the Chinese military. More than 60% of WuXi AppTec’s revenue comes from the U.S. market.
In mid-May, a bipartisan group of House members, including Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Rep. Grad Wenstrump (R-Ohio), praised the oversight committee for passing the Biosecurity Act, which aims to In curbing the business of these Chinese companies in the United States.
“America will not stand idly by while the Chinese Communist Party steals our genetic data,” the three said in a statement. “We are proud to lead the BIOSAFE Act and look forward to working with House leadership to get this bill into law as quickly as possible.” All votes.”
The measure would prohibit medical reimbursement for genetic sequencing procedures performed by China or other foreign adversaries and prohibit any U.S. federal agency from obtaining any biotech equipment from BGI and Wuxi WuXi AppTec or any other “related biotech company” or Serve. It also directs the Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Commerce, State, Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to publish a list of entities that constitute biotechnology companies of concern.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and provided via RealClearWire.
Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political reporter.
