China Has Change of Heart On Transplants

"They were waiting like vultures," the patient's sister said

(NEWSER) - A 47-year-old man was wrongly declared brain dead by two doctors apparently eager to harvest his organs, reports the LA Times. "They were waiting like vultures, so they could scoop them up," says the patient’s daughter, Melanie Sanchez. A third doctor determined that her father, who had suffered a catastrophic brain hemorrhage, was not dead. More»

China cleans up for Olympics—and Korean kidney patients feel the pinch

(NEWSER) - South Korea has a kidney shortage, and the Beijing Olympics are to blame, Der Spiegel reports. China, attempting to clean up its human rights reputation in preparation the 2008 games, has banned organ trafficking and cut down on the state executions that used to create supply. Now countries that used to rely on this most controversial of Chinese exports are feeling the pinch. More»

Process has already been used to make mice grow rat organs

(NEWSER) - Japanese researchers have hit on a stem cell breakthrough that they say could essentially solve the organ shortages problem—but fair warning, it’s weird. By injecting stem cells from rats into the embryos of mice that had been genetically modified to be unable to grow their own organs, the researchers have been able to create mice with rat organs. And they believe the same process could be used to create pigs with human parts, the Telegraph reports. More»

Surgeons in South Africa accused of illegal operations for profit

(USER SUBMITTED) - New charges have been filed in an alleged organ trafficking conspiracy first exposed five years ago. Poor Brazilians and Romanians were reportedly paid an average of $6,000 for their kidneys, which were then illegally transplanted into rich Israelis by South African doctors at plush private hospitals. Israelis who gave their kidneys as part of the scheme got $20,000. More»

Both are isolated except for a superpower

(NEWSER) - Be careful, Israel, you're starting to look like "gulp—North Korea," writes Daniel W. Drezner. Israel may not be in similarly dire financial straits, but the parallels are "pretty eerie" beyond that, writes Drezner in Foreign Policy . Let us count the ways:

• "Both countries are diplomatically isolated except for their ties to a great power benefactor."