Mass sterilizations taking place in China

Rome, Italy, Sep 13, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The EFE news agency published reports this week that between March and July of this year, more than seven thousand women have been subjected to sterilizations and-in the case of pregnancies-forced abortions as part of an aggressive family planning campaign pushed by the Chinese government.

The independent Chinese press reported that forced sterilizations have taken place in Linyi, a small town located in region of Yinan, in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, one of the most populated of the country with almost 100 million inhabitants. Previously Time magazine published a similar report, calling the situation "one of the most brutal sterilization campaigns of recent years."

According to reports, Chinese authorities carried out a preliminary inspection of families in Linyi, in order to force those women who were pregnant to have abortions and later sterilize those who had already had one child as permitted by law.

At the same time, The Guardian published a chilling article outlining how a Chinese company uses aborted fetuses and the skin of executed prisoners in the manufacturing of cosmetic products.

Although The Guardian did not name the company, Forum Libertas of Spain noted that the last year alone, China executed more than three thousand people.

An official from the company in question admitted, "We still carry out many investigations in a traditional way, using skin from executed prisoners or aborted fetuses." The "material" is acquired by biotechnology companies located in the northern province of Heilongjiang, which provide it to manufacturers in the country.

"We have just begun to export these products, and our foreign clients are surprised that China is able to manufacture human collagen at five percent of what it costs in the West." The skin of executed prisoners used to be cheaper before, but today "you have to pay a fee to the court" that condemned them to death, the official said.