Beauty is Skin Deep: "The beauty products from the skin of executed Chinese prisoners" (The Guardian Unlimited - UK)
[Ed note: This insane Guardian article pimp'd courtesy of an email from a noble warrior, The Great Samurai, Sir Spensei...]
(...)
This is what happens with Fascism: instead of helping China reform through trade and negotiations, we are endorsing their Fascism and tyranny and enjoying the cheap slave-labor force that supports our lifestyles.
There is no "stasis" in this arrangement, not with capitalism: there is only building on the flawed principles of seeing human beings as a massive means to the ends of a few. We're not even talking about health care products here (e.g. organ donation), but rather "make-up".
The ramifications are much greater with each incremental allowance of these actions: along the supply chain people become dependent on this business model for jobs, then justify it's existence, then an extension of the base vile principles it's built on for growth, and then complain they're absolutely miserable.
We've already seen it: This. Is. The. World.
The irony is that in the fastest-paced era in history, we assume things aren't going to change while also saying things are getting much worse than they used to be.
Confusing?
Exactly.
But...
They're just dead prisoners!
Sure...
But dead prisoners in a country who's legal system is at best "flawed" and at worst "evil", and that likely includes the bodies of many good people (dissidents? terrorists?) who were trying to change it and their country for the better.
Not that we in the West can talk, with 12% of America's population African-American and 50% of America's prison population African-American, there are clearly systemic issues at play. (Or you're a freakin' racist). With the largest prison population in the world and a President famous for executing minorities, juveniles, women, and the mentally challenged as Governor of Texas, it is no surprise that America's leaders keep endorsing more "free trade" with China irrespective of the cost in human life.
(...)
In fact, "free trade" is a lie, and the anti-globalization people aren't "crazy" as they're sold on television: they're correct.
Basically this is simply the new model for creating "banana republics", and the drive to promote "free trade" was based on an assesment of how to capitalize on current global inequality at the highest levels of political and economic leadership.
The First World can sub-segment countries into specific feeder-relationships for Western lifestyles - and more importantly corporate profits. This ensures countries are merely seen as suppliers of product-lines that can be replaced after they are robbed blind and squeezed dry.
Trade barriers allow domestically diversified industries to develop and mature, and can make the whole world a better place by contributing unique, inexpensive and often superior goods (like Honda and InfoSys), including products specifically designed for regional interests that help grow local business.
This maturation process also adds a natural competitive evolution to keep inflation down, and maximize the diverse skills that a population-base of diverse people (even of the same color!) inevitably hold and want to express - in lieu of being politically suppressed for the interests of those living thousands of miles away.
Unfortunately, thanks to corporate-fascism masquerading as sound economic policy, that won't be allowed to happen: the politically astute middle-class are being taught that "free trade" is an economic Godsend, and don't really understand it.
This makes no sense.
People always say "diversify your portfolio!", and really, when it comes to retirement savings plans that is the most important and obvious advice ever given to ensure the safest return on investment. Most other players use that (patently obvious) advice as a nigh-religious principle even though they are often just playing with some disposable income as gambling money.
So: why do WE expect entire countries to "unify" their portfolio?
To gamble their entire future on whatever products they squeeze their labor force into producing the cheapest under the most dangerous conditions?
To force their populations into a handful of job opportunities that often relate very little to advancing local interests and maximizing any individual's potential?
To eventually be beaten by their own success at creating a middle-class that won't provide slave-labor anymore; and losing business to a starving country that will?
To be at the mercy of the fickle whims of the Western World's political and economic leadership who spent years screwing them with brutal colonialism?
And then years screwing them with brutal IMF and World Bank loans?
And then years teaching their youth that a Third World country's economic growth into a First World country that includes generations of poverty is perfectly "normal"?
And still doing that despite the fact that it rarely or never happens?
(...)
Man: WE are such pricks.
(...)
It is what it is folks, and there's a pile of it that smells really bad...
Special report
The beauty products from the skin of executed Chinese prisoners
· Cosmetics firm targets UK market ·
Lack of regulation puts users at risk
Ian Cobain and Adam Luck
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.
With European regulations to control cosmetic treatments such as collagen not expected for several years, doctors and politicians say the discovery highlights the dangers faced by the increasing number of Britons seeking to improve their looks. Apart from the ethical concerns, there is also the potential risk of infection.
MPs on the Commons select health committee are to examine the regulatory system and may launch an investigation and question ministers about the need for immediate new controls. "I am sure that the committee will want to look at this," said Kevin Barron, its Labour chairman. "This is something everyone in society will be very concerned about."
Plastic surgeons are also concerned about the delay in introducing regulations to control the cosmetic treatments industry. Norman Waterhouse, a former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: "I am surprised that we are taking the lead from the European commission, because this is bound to delay action on this important area which is increasingly a matter for concern. It seems like a bit of a cop out to me."
It is unclear whether any of the "aesthetic fillers" such as collagen available in the UK or on the internet are supplied by the company, which cannot be identified for legal reasons. 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.
Traditional
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.
The agent told the researcher: "A lot of the research is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed prisoner and aborted foetus." This material, he said, was being bought from "bio tech" companies based in the northern province of Heilongjiang, and was being developed elsewhere in China.
He suggested that the use of skin and other tissues harvested from executed prisoners was not uncommon. "In China it is considered very normal and I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this," he said. 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."
The agent said his company exported to the west via Hong Kong."We are still in the early days of selling these products, and clients from abroad are quite surprised that China can manufacture the same human collagen for less than 5% of what it costs in the west." Skin from prisoners used to be even less expensive, he said. "Nowadays there is a certain fee that has to be paid to the court."
The agent's admission comes after an inquiry into the cosmetic surgery industry in Britain, commissioned by the Department of Health, pointed to the need for new regulations controlling collagen treatments. Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, has highlighted the inquiry's concerns about the use of cadavers for cosmetic treatments. "Cosmetic procedures are a rapidly growing area of private health care," he said. "We must ensure we properly protect patients' safety by improving the training and regulation."
The DoH has agreed to the inquiry's recommendations, but is waiting for the European commission to draw up proposals for laws governing cosmetic products. It could be several years before this legislation takes force.
Meanwhile, cosmetic treatments, including those with with aesthetic fillers, are growing rapidly in popularity, with around 150,000 injections or implants administered each year in the UK. Lip enhancement treatments are one of the most popular, costing an average of £170.
Some fillers are made from cattle or pig tissue, and others from humans. The DoH believes that there may be a risk of transmission of blood-borne viruses and even vCJD from collagen containing human tissue. Although there is as yet no evidence that this has happened, the inquiry found that some collagen injections had triggered inflammatory reactions causing permanent discomfort, scarring and disfigurement. In their report, the inquiry team said that if there was a risk, "action should be taken to protect patient safety through regulation".
While new regulations are to be drawn up, the department is currently powerless to regulate most human-tissue fillers intended for injection or implant, as they occupy a legal grey area. Most products are not governed by regulations controlling medical products, as they are not classified as medicines. They also escape cosmetics regulations, which only apply to substances used on the surface of the skin and not those injected beneath it. The Healthcare Commission is planning new regulations for cosmetic surgery clinics next year, but these will not control the substances used by plastic surgeons.
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. "The main concern would be infective risk."
Andrew Lee of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who has visited China to examine transplant techniques, said he had heard similar rumours.
Manufacturers of aesthetic fillers said they had seen Chinese collagen products on sale at trade fairs, but had not seen any labelled Chinese-made in the UK. 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."
In China, authorities deny that prisoners' body parts are harvested without their consent. However, there is some evidence to suggest it may be happening.
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.
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. Dr Wang, who was seeking asylum in the US, also alleged that corneas and other body tissue were removed for transplant, and said his hospital, the Tianjin paramilitary police general brigade hospital, sold body parts for profit.
Human rights activists in China have repeatedly claimed that organs have been harvested from the corpses of executed prisoners and sold to surgeons offering transplants to fee-paying foreigners.
Dr Wang's allegations infuriated the Chinese authorities, and in a rare move officials publicly denounced him as a liar. The government said organs were transplanted from executed prisoners only if they and their family gave consent.
Although the exact number of people facing the death penalty in China is an official secret, Amnesty International believes around 3,400 were executed last year, with a further 6,000 on death row.
What is it?
Collagen is a major structural protein found in abundance in skin, bones, tendons and other connective tissue. Matted sheets of collagen give skin its toughness and by winding into molecular "cables", it adds strength to tendons.
What is it used for?
Collagen injections are used in cosmetic surgery to plump up lips and flatten out wrinkles. After botox, collagen injections are the second-most popular cosmetic operations in Britain. Collagen does not have a permanent effect and several injections are often needed.
What else is it good for?
Collagen was being put to good use as far back as the stone age. Neolithic cave dwellers around the Dead Sea are believed to have used it as a primitive form of glue some 8,000 years ago. More recently, researchers have developed a form that can be poured or injected into wounds to seal them.
Where does it come from?
A number of sources. Some companies extract it from cow skin and treat it to minimise the risk of allergic reactions or infection. Others collect it from human donors or extract cells from the patient before growing the necessary amount in a laboratory.
Is it safe?
Collagen can cause allergic reactions if it has not been treated correctly, and there is a theoretical risk of disease being passed on. A small amount of collagen is often injected into the skin a few weeks before treatment to test for possible allergic reactions. Earlier this year, Sir Liam Donaldson warned that collagen injections could spread conditions such as hepatitis and variant CJD, the human form of mad cow disease.
Special reports
Medicine and health
Useful links
British Medical Association
Department of Health
General Medical Council
Health on the Net Foundation
Institute of Cancer Research
Medical Research Council
NHS Direct
Royal Institute of Public Health
World Health Organisation
SOURCE - http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1568622,00.html
(...)
BONUS: Nothing personal against the Chinese people, but just like in America and pretty much everywhere the "Crazy Baldheads" run 'tings bad, their politicians are real assholes...
U.S. Court Hears Chinese Media’s Role in Torture
Epoch Times | September 24, 2005
By Tracey Zhu
HARTFORD, Conn. – On a sunny Thursday morning in a packed federal courtroom, the audience heard how the state-owned media in China has furthered a campaign of torture against Falun Gong adherents in China.
Zhao Zhizhen, a CCP official and the former Director of Wuhan TV Station in China was served with a summons in July 2004 when he was visiting New Haven. The lawsuit was filed by Falun Gong practitioners under the Torture Victim Protection Act a statute passed by Congress in 1992 to give courts jurisdiction over perpetrators of torture abroad. It was also filed under the Alien Tort Statute; a 215-year-old law that allows foreigners to sue in the U.S. over human rights abuses committed anywhere. The Thursday hearing addressed the defendant’s motion to have the case dismissed on the grounds that it’s about speech and not about torture.
The defendant's attorney, Bruce Rosen, told U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny that his client is not responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong in China, as it is unrelated to the Defendant’s television programs, website and other activities. He characterized the case as a “libel case” and characterized the Defendant’s television programs as like 20/20 and 60 minutes.
But Terri Marsh, Plaintiffs’ attorney compared the defendant’s speech to that of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. She said that Zhao is intricately linked to the perpetration of a campaign of torture and genocide waged against Falun Gong in China. She said that the Defendant is responsible for the material broadcast on the WRTB television station he managed as CEO and for the material displayed on the China Anti Cult Association (CACA) website as one of the founders of the website and a member of the board. The television station and website displays include direct calls for the eradication of Falun gong, as well direct orders to “punish [Falun Gong] without mercy,” and to “shoot them once confirmed.”
Attorney Marsh also explained that in China “propaganda” substitutes for a “rule of law.” In the United States, one may not be deprived of one’s liberty or life without due process (including a trial by a jury of one’s peers). In China, the Communist Party first labels a person or group as “an enemy of the state” and secondarily has them arrested and tortured. As the CACA website says, “lets call them terrorists, then whatever measures we use will be justified.”
This is exactly how the persecution began: Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP called Falun Gong an enemy of the state to justify the persecution he initiated in July of 1999. According to Amnesty International, the persecution has caused thousands of deaths and severe torture to practitioners of Falun Gong in China.
Marsh said that Zhao knew that the material he produced, aired and displayed on through these media were likely to incite, inflame and further the unlawful arrest and torture of practitioners of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Outside, plaintiff Chen Gang, 34, said a movie made by Zhao was shown over and over inside the labor camp where he was sent in 2000 for being a member of Falun Gong. He said that type of propaganda led to beatings and other torture.
“Before the suppression started, the media comes out and says these guys are bad,” Chen said. “That gives them the excuse. Some crimes are hidden. If you give someone the knife and say, 'That guy is bad,' it makes what happens worse.”
Outside the courtroom, one Falun Gong practitioner said “Here in the U.S. we are filing the suit for those who are responsible for the killing and torture of practitioners because we want justice.”
Judge Chatigny said he would rule soon on the motion by Zhao’s attorney to dismiss the case.
SOURCE - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/china_us_court_hears_media_role_torture.htm
(...)
BONUS: Mister Jones and me... exposing London's lies for all to see...
Now an FBI agent in Seattle – name removed for security reasons, but can be published at the drop of a hat – has demanded that former USDA federal agent, Dr Janette Parker, stop talking to the British media about how the FBI obstructed their own top terrorism investigator, John O’Neill in his enquiries.
Dr Parker, who worked alongside O’Neill, although not in an official capacity’ is fearful of her life.
“Janet is a highly-professional and honest person. She is very brave,” says Christopher Berry-Dee, publisher of TNC. “But, now the cat is out of the bag, and we have ensured that she will be protected by circulating her information to leading British newspapers and the media.”
Dr Parker writes: “The American press can be silenced but not the British press. MI-5 and MI-6 and not happy about the intelligence failure on the American side of the Atlantic, especially withholding information about Haroon Aswat’s intention for additional bombings and his fund raising in Seattle area in March 2002 (after 911).”
Haroon Aswat is the primary suspect as the mastermind of the London Bombings 7/7. The FBI can assert that Haroon was not in Seattle on March 6, 2002, but British intelligence had him under close surveillance and they know whether he was in England or not.
Dr Parker, who is supported by many other FBI agents and John Loftus (see: http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=1124824797) adds: “You can fool some of the people some of the time, all the people some of the time but not all the people all of the time.”
By trying to discredit Dr Parker, she claims:
“The effort of the FBI to hide their own internal problems has now made it impossible for me to expose the corruption and fraudulent documents at the University of Washington Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. There were 40 doctors involved and 8 departments. Two doctors pled guilty to Medicaid billing fraud and obstruction of justice charges. The FBI had been conducting an investigation into the medical billing fraud but did not get indictments against them.”
In verified documents, sent to TNC and the British media, Dr Parker’s explosive investigative results cover far-ranging matters, from terrorist training camps, money laundering for the extreme Islamic terror campaigns, FBI cover-ups, prostitution and brutal homicide, threats to her own welfare, physical abuse and intimidation, to include possible phone taps and email interception.
With the events, unfolding in Chicago, (see: http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=1529297048 ) even a blind man can see that the current U.S. administration is rotten thru-and-thru, and this corruption has long spread to the UK – where British citizens should be demanding of Prime Minister Blair why SIS/MI6 was using Haroon Aswat as an agent, and why, as John Loftus claims, was Aswat – who was on the British security services ‘Watch List’, allowed to leave the UK, when the British Police were desperately searching for him?
Pinning down Aswat’s movements – as all of the movements of the London Bombers – prior to the bombings is crucial, claim New Scotland Yard.
“Dr Parker’s information IS crucial,” says TNC. “Her knowledge of Special Agent John Neill’s work in counter-terrorism, could make her a very valuable asset if the Met really mean what they say.”
The 911 disaster ( of course the U.S. emergency services hotline number) could have been prevented, as could have the London Bombings.
As a deeply embedded intelligence source recently told TNC:
“Bush and Blair are just puppets. Their strings are tugged by money, corruption, ego, by the Intel services. You don’t even want to know the truth.”
In a chilling observation, our source, who has been verified as having carried out executions on behalf of H.M. Government, and MI6, and a man who has served 25-years for terrorism offenses, added:
“The Northern Ireland Bank Robbery…the Dublin Art theft…the stealing of millions of pounds of UK Government Bonds – two in the name of Mark Thatcher – has all been covered up…MI6 would order me to commit murder, then the SAS would try and shoot me because I knew too much.”
“International terrorism is VERY BIG business,” our source confirmed. “The U.S. and UK trade in terrorism like it is some kind of off-the-shelf commodity. Forget the destruction of lives to normal people, women and children. I have been there and done it all. Your Dr Parker has done the right thing. Like me she is cladding herself with insurance – like a Kevlar jacket, and I wish her all the best.”
In a strange twist, an FBI agent emailed TNC, saying: “We wish you all good luck, and I personally hope that something good comes out of all of this.”
The people of the U.S. should be very proud of Dr Parker. And those of us who are concerned about terrorism in the UK should salute her.
(...)
This is what happens with Fascism: instead of helping China reform through trade and negotiations, we are endorsing their Fascism and tyranny and enjoying the cheap slave-labor force that supports our lifestyles.
There is no "stasis" in this arrangement, not with capitalism: there is only building on the flawed principles of seeing human beings as a massive means to the ends of a few. We're not even talking about health care products here (e.g. organ donation), but rather "make-up".
The ramifications are much greater with each incremental allowance of these actions: along the supply chain people become dependent on this business model for jobs, then justify it's existence, then an extension of the base vile principles it's built on for growth, and then complain they're absolutely miserable.
We've already seen it: This. Is. The. World.
The irony is that in the fastest-paced era in history, we assume things aren't going to change while also saying things are getting much worse than they used to be.
Confusing?
Exactly.
But...
They're just dead prisoners!
Sure...
But dead prisoners in a country who's legal system is at best "flawed" and at worst "evil", and that likely includes the bodies of many good people (dissidents? terrorists?) who were trying to change it and their country for the better.
Not that we in the West can talk, with 12% of America's population African-American and 50% of America's prison population African-American, there are clearly systemic issues at play. (Or you're a freakin' racist). With the largest prison population in the world and a President famous for executing minorities, juveniles, women, and the mentally challenged as Governor of Texas, it is no surprise that America's leaders keep endorsing more "free trade" with China irrespective of the cost in human life.
(...)
In fact, "free trade" is a lie, and the anti-globalization people aren't "crazy" as they're sold on television: they're correct.
Basically this is simply the new model for creating "banana republics", and the drive to promote "free trade" was based on an assesment of how to capitalize on current global inequality at the highest levels of political and economic leadership.
The First World can sub-segment countries into specific feeder-relationships for Western lifestyles - and more importantly corporate profits. This ensures countries are merely seen as suppliers of product-lines that can be replaced after they are robbed blind and squeezed dry.
Trade barriers allow domestically diversified industries to develop and mature, and can make the whole world a better place by contributing unique, inexpensive and often superior goods (like Honda and InfoSys), including products specifically designed for regional interests that help grow local business.
This maturation process also adds a natural competitive evolution to keep inflation down, and maximize the diverse skills that a population-base of diverse people (even of the same color!) inevitably hold and want to express - in lieu of being politically suppressed for the interests of those living thousands of miles away.
Unfortunately, thanks to corporate-fascism masquerading as sound economic policy, that won't be allowed to happen: the politically astute middle-class are being taught that "free trade" is an economic Godsend, and don't really understand it.
This makes no sense.
People always say "diversify your portfolio!", and really, when it comes to retirement savings plans that is the most important and obvious advice ever given to ensure the safest return on investment. Most other players use that (patently obvious) advice as a nigh-religious principle even though they are often just playing with some disposable income as gambling money.
So: why do WE expect entire countries to "unify" their portfolio?
To gamble their entire future on whatever products they squeeze their labor force into producing the cheapest under the most dangerous conditions?
To force their populations into a handful of job opportunities that often relate very little to advancing local interests and maximizing any individual's potential?
To eventually be beaten by their own success at creating a middle-class that won't provide slave-labor anymore; and losing business to a starving country that will?
To be at the mercy of the fickle whims of the Western World's political and economic leadership who spent years screwing them with brutal colonialism?
And then years screwing them with brutal IMF and World Bank loans?
And then years teaching their youth that a Third World country's economic growth into a First World country that includes generations of poverty is perfectly "normal"?
And still doing that despite the fact that it rarely or never happens?
(...)
Man: WE are such pricks.
(...)
It is what it is folks, and there's a pile of it that smells really bad...
Special report
The beauty products from the skin of executed Chinese prisoners
· Cosmetics firm targets UK market ·
Lack of regulation puts users at risk
Ian Cobain and Adam Luck
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.
Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about".
With European regulations to control cosmetic treatments such as collagen not expected for several years, doctors and politicians say the discovery highlights the dangers faced by the increasing number of Britons seeking to improve their looks. Apart from the ethical concerns, there is also the potential risk of infection.
MPs on the Commons select health committee are to examine the regulatory system and may launch an investigation and question ministers about the need for immediate new controls. "I am sure that the committee will want to look at this," said Kevin Barron, its Labour chairman. "This is something everyone in society will be very concerned about."
Plastic surgeons are also concerned about the delay in introducing regulations to control the cosmetic treatments industry. Norman Waterhouse, a former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: "I am surprised that we are taking the lead from the European commission, because this is bound to delay action on this important area which is increasingly a matter for concern. It seems like a bit of a cop out to me."
It is unclear whether any of the "aesthetic fillers" such as collagen available in the UK or on the internet are supplied by the company, which cannot be identified for legal reasons. 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.
Traditional
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.
The agent told the researcher: "A lot of the research is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed prisoner and aborted foetus." This material, he said, was being bought from "bio tech" companies based in the northern province of Heilongjiang, and was being developed elsewhere in China.
He suggested that the use of skin and other tissues harvested from executed prisoners was not uncommon. "In China it is considered very normal and I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this," he said. 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."
The agent said his company exported to the west via Hong Kong."We are still in the early days of selling these products, and clients from abroad are quite surprised that China can manufacture the same human collagen for less than 5% of what it costs in the west." Skin from prisoners used to be even less expensive, he said. "Nowadays there is a certain fee that has to be paid to the court."
The agent's admission comes after an inquiry into the cosmetic surgery industry in Britain, commissioned by the Department of Health, pointed to the need for new regulations controlling collagen treatments. Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, has highlighted the inquiry's concerns about the use of cadavers for cosmetic treatments. "Cosmetic procedures are a rapidly growing area of private health care," he said. "We must ensure we properly protect patients' safety by improving the training and regulation."
The DoH has agreed to the inquiry's recommendations, but is waiting for the European commission to draw up proposals for laws governing cosmetic products. It could be several years before this legislation takes force.
Meanwhile, cosmetic treatments, including those with with aesthetic fillers, are growing rapidly in popularity, with around 150,000 injections or implants administered each year in the UK. Lip enhancement treatments are one of the most popular, costing an average of £170.
Some fillers are made from cattle or pig tissue, and others from humans. The DoH believes that there may be a risk of transmission of blood-borne viruses and even vCJD from collagen containing human tissue. Although there is as yet no evidence that this has happened, the inquiry found that some collagen injections had triggered inflammatory reactions causing permanent discomfort, scarring and disfigurement. In their report, the inquiry team said that if there was a risk, "action should be taken to protect patient safety through regulation".
While new regulations are to be drawn up, the department is currently powerless to regulate most human-tissue fillers intended for injection or implant, as they occupy a legal grey area. Most products are not governed by regulations controlling medical products, as they are not classified as medicines. They also escape cosmetics regulations, which only apply to substances used on the surface of the skin and not those injected beneath it. The Healthcare Commission is planning new regulations for cosmetic surgery clinics next year, but these will not control the substances used by plastic surgeons.
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. "The main concern would be infective risk."
Andrew Lee of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who has visited China to examine transplant techniques, said he had heard similar rumours.
Manufacturers of aesthetic fillers said they had seen Chinese collagen products on sale at trade fairs, but had not seen any labelled Chinese-made in the UK. 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."
In China, authorities deny that prisoners' body parts are harvested without their consent. However, there is some evidence to suggest it may be happening.
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.
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. Dr Wang, who was seeking asylum in the US, also alleged that corneas and other body tissue were removed for transplant, and said his hospital, the Tianjin paramilitary police general brigade hospital, sold body parts for profit.
Human rights activists in China have repeatedly claimed that organs have been harvested from the corpses of executed prisoners and sold to surgeons offering transplants to fee-paying foreigners.
Dr Wang's allegations infuriated the Chinese authorities, and in a rare move officials publicly denounced him as a liar. The government said organs were transplanted from executed prisoners only if they and their family gave consent.
Although the exact number of people facing the death penalty in China is an official secret, Amnesty International believes around 3,400 were executed last year, with a further 6,000 on death row.
What is it?
Collagen is a major structural protein found in abundance in skin, bones, tendons and other connective tissue. Matted sheets of collagen give skin its toughness and by winding into molecular "cables", it adds strength to tendons.
What is it used for?
Collagen injections are used in cosmetic surgery to plump up lips and flatten out wrinkles. After botox, collagen injections are the second-most popular cosmetic operations in Britain. Collagen does not have a permanent effect and several injections are often needed.
What else is it good for?
Collagen was being put to good use as far back as the stone age. Neolithic cave dwellers around the Dead Sea are believed to have used it as a primitive form of glue some 8,000 years ago. More recently, researchers have developed a form that can be poured or injected into wounds to seal them.
Where does it come from?
A number of sources. Some companies extract it from cow skin and treat it to minimise the risk of allergic reactions or infection. Others collect it from human donors or extract cells from the patient before growing the necessary amount in a laboratory.
Is it safe?
Collagen can cause allergic reactions if it has not been treated correctly, and there is a theoretical risk of disease being passed on. A small amount of collagen is often injected into the skin a few weeks before treatment to test for possible allergic reactions. Earlier this year, Sir Liam Donaldson warned that collagen injections could spread conditions such as hepatitis and variant CJD, the human form of mad cow disease.
Special reports
Medicine and health
Useful links
British Medical Association
Department of Health
General Medical Council
Health on the Net Foundation
Institute of Cancer Research
Medical Research Council
NHS Direct
Royal Institute of Public Health
World Health Organisation
SOURCE - http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1568622,00.html
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BONUS: Nothing personal against the Chinese people, but just like in America and pretty much everywhere the "Crazy Baldheads" run 'tings bad, their politicians are real assholes...
U.S. Court Hears Chinese Media’s Role in Torture
Epoch Times | September 24, 2005
By Tracey Zhu
HARTFORD, Conn. – On a sunny Thursday morning in a packed federal courtroom, the audience heard how the state-owned media in China has furthered a campaign of torture against Falun Gong adherents in China.
Zhao Zhizhen, a CCP official and the former Director of Wuhan TV Station in China was served with a summons in July 2004 when he was visiting New Haven. The lawsuit was filed by Falun Gong practitioners under the Torture Victim Protection Act a statute passed by Congress in 1992 to give courts jurisdiction over perpetrators of torture abroad. It was also filed under the Alien Tort Statute; a 215-year-old law that allows foreigners to sue in the U.S. over human rights abuses committed anywhere. The Thursday hearing addressed the defendant’s motion to have the case dismissed on the grounds that it’s about speech and not about torture.
The defendant's attorney, Bruce Rosen, told U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny that his client is not responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong in China, as it is unrelated to the Defendant’s television programs, website and other activities. He characterized the case as a “libel case” and characterized the Defendant’s television programs as like 20/20 and 60 minutes.
But Terri Marsh, Plaintiffs’ attorney compared the defendant’s speech to that of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. She said that Zhao is intricately linked to the perpetration of a campaign of torture and genocide waged against Falun Gong in China. She said that the Defendant is responsible for the material broadcast on the WRTB television station he managed as CEO and for the material displayed on the China Anti Cult Association (CACA) website as one of the founders of the website and a member of the board. The television station and website displays include direct calls for the eradication of Falun gong, as well direct orders to “punish [Falun Gong] without mercy,” and to “shoot them once confirmed.”
Attorney Marsh also explained that in China “propaganda” substitutes for a “rule of law.” In the United States, one may not be deprived of one’s liberty or life without due process (including a trial by a jury of one’s peers). In China, the Communist Party first labels a person or group as “an enemy of the state” and secondarily has them arrested and tortured. As the CACA website says, “lets call them terrorists, then whatever measures we use will be justified.”
This is exactly how the persecution began: Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP called Falun Gong an enemy of the state to justify the persecution he initiated in July of 1999. According to Amnesty International, the persecution has caused thousands of deaths and severe torture to practitioners of Falun Gong in China.
Marsh said that Zhao knew that the material he produced, aired and displayed on through these media were likely to incite, inflame and further the unlawful arrest and torture of practitioners of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
Outside, plaintiff Chen Gang, 34, said a movie made by Zhao was shown over and over inside the labor camp where he was sent in 2000 for being a member of Falun Gong. He said that type of propaganda led to beatings and other torture.
“Before the suppression started, the media comes out and says these guys are bad,” Chen said. “That gives them the excuse. Some crimes are hidden. If you give someone the knife and say, 'That guy is bad,' it makes what happens worse.”
Outside the courtroom, one Falun Gong practitioner said “Here in the U.S. we are filing the suit for those who are responsible for the killing and torture of practitioners because we want justice.”
Judge Chatigny said he would rule soon on the motion by Zhao’s attorney to dismiss the case.
SOURCE - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/china_us_court_hears_media_role_torture.htm
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BONUS: Mister Jones and me... exposing London's lies for all to see...
London Bomber Mastermind Was Working For MI6
New Criminologist Magazine | September 26 2005
Haroon Aswat – the man British Police believe was behind the London bombings – was working for MI6, it has been confirmed by leading U.S. and French intelligence asset/agents.
RELATED:
7/7 Mastermind was working for British Intelligence
Now an FBI agent in Seattle – name removed for security reasons, but can be published at the drop of a hat – has demanded that former USDA federal agent, Dr Janette Parker, stop talking to the British media about how the FBI obstructed their own top terrorism investigator, John O’Neill in his enquiries.
Dr Parker, who worked alongside O’Neill, although not in an official capacity’ is fearful of her life.
“Janet is a highly-professional and honest person. She is very brave,” says Christopher Berry-Dee, publisher of TNC. “But, now the cat is out of the bag, and we have ensured that she will be protected by circulating her information to leading British newspapers and the media.”
Dr Parker writes: “The American press can be silenced but not the British press. MI-5 and MI-6 and not happy about the intelligence failure on the American side of the Atlantic, especially withholding information about Haroon Aswat’s intention for additional bombings and his fund raising in Seattle area in March 2002 (after 911).”
Haroon Aswat is the primary suspect as the mastermind of the London Bombings 7/7. The FBI can assert that Haroon was not in Seattle on March 6, 2002, but British intelligence had him under close surveillance and they know whether he was in England or not.
Dr Parker, who is supported by many other FBI agents and John Loftus (see: http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=1124824797) adds: “You can fool some of the people some of the time, all the people some of the time but not all the people all of the time.”
By trying to discredit Dr Parker, she claims:
“The effort of the FBI to hide their own internal problems has now made it impossible for me to expose the corruption and fraudulent documents at the University of Washington Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. There were 40 doctors involved and 8 departments. Two doctors pled guilty to Medicaid billing fraud and obstruction of justice charges. The FBI had been conducting an investigation into the medical billing fraud but did not get indictments against them.”
In verified documents, sent to TNC and the British media, Dr Parker’s explosive investigative results cover far-ranging matters, from terrorist training camps, money laundering for the extreme Islamic terror campaigns, FBI cover-ups, prostitution and brutal homicide, threats to her own welfare, physical abuse and intimidation, to include possible phone taps and email interception.
With the events, unfolding in Chicago, (see: http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=1529297048 ) even a blind man can see that the current U.S. administration is rotten thru-and-thru, and this corruption has long spread to the UK – where British citizens should be demanding of Prime Minister Blair why SIS/MI6 was using Haroon Aswat as an agent, and why, as John Loftus claims, was Aswat – who was on the British security services ‘Watch List’, allowed to leave the UK, when the British Police were desperately searching for him?
Pinning down Aswat’s movements – as all of the movements of the London Bombers – prior to the bombings is crucial, claim New Scotland Yard.
“Dr Parker’s information IS crucial,” says TNC. “Her knowledge of Special Agent John Neill’s work in counter-terrorism, could make her a very valuable asset if the Met really mean what they say.”
The 911 disaster ( of course the U.S. emergency services hotline number) could have been prevented, as could have the London Bombings.
As a deeply embedded intelligence source recently told TNC:
“Bush and Blair are just puppets. Their strings are tugged by money, corruption, ego, by the Intel services. You don’t even want to know the truth.”
In a chilling observation, our source, who has been verified as having carried out executions on behalf of H.M. Government, and MI6, and a man who has served 25-years for terrorism offenses, added:
“The Northern Ireland Bank Robbery…the Dublin Art theft…the stealing of millions of pounds of UK Government Bonds – two in the name of Mark Thatcher – has all been covered up…MI6 would order me to commit murder, then the SAS would try and shoot me because I knew too much.”
“International terrorism is VERY BIG business,” our source confirmed. “The U.S. and UK trade in terrorism like it is some kind of off-the-shelf commodity. Forget the destruction of lives to normal people, women and children. I have been there and done it all. Your Dr Parker has done the right thing. Like me she is cladding herself with insurance – like a Kevlar jacket, and I wish her all the best.”
In a strange twist, an FBI agent emailed TNC, saying: “We wish you all good luck, and I personally hope that something good comes out of all of this.”
The people of the U.S. should be very proud of Dr Parker. And those of us who are concerned about terrorism in the UK should salute her.
DA SOURCE, DA SOURCE, OF COURSE, OF COURSE...
http://www.infowars.com/articles/London_attack/new_criminologist_aswat_mi6.htm
posted by Black Krishna at 9:48 PM
4 Comments:
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Cheers! :)
BK
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