Ministry Investigates Pills Made of 'baby Flesh'

[Gregore Mortis]

Not the Ministry of Hogwarts..

BEIJING / CHANGCHUN - The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that it has launched an investigation in the wake of a media report in South Korea about capsules from China - made from the flesh of dead babies - being used as stamina boosters.

Deng Haihua, spokesman of the ministry, said on Tuesday that the ministry has instructed its provincial agency in Jilin to look into the case.

Deng said China has strict management of disposal of infant and fetal remains as well as placentas.

"Any practice that handles the remains as medical waste is strictly prohibited," Deng said.

According to the country's regulations, medical institutions and their staff are prohibited from trading corpses.

The Global Times reported on Monday that SBS, one of the three major national television networks in South Korea, broadcast a documentary on Aug 6 about the appearance of capsules from China containing dead baby flesh.

According to the report, the TV program warned that some of the capsules were taken by Koreans.

The television team claimed to have been to China, found the hospital that sold the materials, and taken video of the manufacturing process.

It quoted insiders saying the "tonic" capsules are mainly sent to South Korea through members of the Korean ethnic group in China.

The ethnic group mainly inhabits Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces.

A test from the national customs office and institute of scientific investigation in South Korea showed the content of the pills received by the television team was 99.7 percent identical with humans, the program said.

It was not reported which hospital or city in China the team visited.

Phone calls to Customs in Jilin went unanswered on Tuesday.

A professor at the Third Hospital of Jilin University said he has never heard of such cases in his two-decade career.

"It's hard to comment, because it looks like a rumor," said the professor, surnamed Zhang. "This is impossible from my professional judgment."

Three traditional Chinese medicine experts and obstetrics doctors in Beijing and Shanghai contacted by China Daily said they have never heard of such cases and it seemed senseless.

It has long been a folk tradition to eat placentas in China. Placentas are believed to make up sperm and support the sufficiency of blood in traditional Chinese medicine.

In China, placentas belong to mothers of newborns. Medical institutions will handle a placenta if a mother gives it up or donates it. Nobody is allowed to sell or buy placentas according to the regulation from the Ministry of Health.

China Daily

[prax22a]

"Deng said China has strict management of disposal of infant and fetal remains as well as placentas."

Bullshit! They eat them and leave them on the side of the road!

[Mr.Goodbar]

SNOPES (this pops up every so often, sometimes they say it is taiwan).
100+ points if you can find the 'doco'. Clever fake

[prax22a]

Originally Posted by Mr.Goodbar

SNOPES (this pops up every so often, sometimes they say it is taiwan).
100+ points if you can find the 'doco'. Clever fake

Yeah whenever I post a news article I always post the link, too.

[Gregore Mortis]

Okay, sorry for the missing links. ..and no, this is not the same story at Snope's.

Here:
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...t_13082699.htm

http://www.asiaone.com/Health/News/S...11-293828.html

Note: Asiaone is pretty legit Singaporean news media
http://www.asiaone.com/

[Gregore Mortis]

Another article: Taiwan's www.wantchinatimes.com

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...3&MainCatID=13

Jilin investigates claims of 'baby flesh' health pills 2011-08-12

A Chinese health official said Thursday that investigations have been launched in northeastern China after a South Korean media outlet reported that health capsules made from the flesh of dead babies were being exported from the region to South Korea, from China.

Authorities are investigating the matter at the Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture in Jilin province but the investigation is yet to yield results, a Yanbian health official, who declined to be named, told the China-based National Business Daily.

The officials said authorities have information about where the "baby flesh" pills were produced but declined to reveal more.

Deng Haihua, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Health, said Tuesday that the ministry is taking the matter seriously and has asked the Jilin health department to probe the case.

A documentary recently aired on SBS, one of the three major broadcasting companies in South Korea, claimed that some Chinese hospitals sold the corpses of infants to pharmaceutical companies, which were then dried and ground into pills.

The SBS documentary team sent samples of the capsules to South Korea's National Institute of Scientific Investigation for DNA testing. Results showed that DNA in the powder of the capsule was a 99.7% match with human DNA.

Deng said the Ministry of Health was determined to clamp down on sales of human organs and corpses. He said that the handling and disposal of the corpses of infants as well as fetuses and placentas were strictly regulated in China and that hospitals and their staff were prohibited from selling or buying corpses or disposing of them as medical waste.

Traditional Chinese medicine has long held that consuming the placenta of a woman who has given birth can restore and rejuvenate the body.

[Gregore Mortis]

and yet another: Pills are '99.7 per cent identical with humans'

http://www.asiaone.com/Health/News/S...-293828/2.html

It quoted insiders saying the "tonic" capsules are mainly sent to South Korea through members of the Korean ethnic group in China.

The ethnic group mainly inhabits Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces.

A test from the national customs office and institute of scientific investigation in South Korea showed the content of the pills received by the television team was 99.7 per cent identical with humans, the program said.
It was not reported which hospital or city in China the team visited.

Phone calls to Customs in Jilin went unanswered on Tuesday.

A professor at the Third Hospital of Jilin University said he has never heard of such cases in his two-decade career.

"It's hard to comment, because it looks like a rumor," said the professor, surnamed Zhang. "This is impossible from my professional judgment."

Three traditional Chinese medicine experts and obstetrics doctors in Beijing and Shanghai contacted by China Daily said they have never heard of such cases and it seemed senseless.

It has long been a folk tradition to eat placentas in China. Placentas are believed to make up sperm and support the sufficiency of blood in traditional Chinese medicine.

In China, placentas belong to mothers of newborns. Medical institutions will handle a placenta if a mother gives it up or donates it. Nobody is allowed to sell or buy placentas according to the regulation from the Ministry of Health.

[Mr.Goodbar]

Originally Posted by Gregore Mortis

Okay, sorry for the missing links. ..and no, this is not the same story at Snope's.

As far as i know the snopes page makes reference to a variety of asian baby eating hoaxes reports over the years.

All your story links are just rehashes of the same story. Just because it's repeated over and over on different bullshit 'news sites' does not make it true.
noone of your links can be verified with any proof

It's fucking bullshit man. Find me a link/torrent to the documentary they talk about. You cant.
it doesn't fucking exist.

[Gregore Mortis]

What kind of documentary do you need? You expect something illegal to be documented with paper works and whatnot? As far as the human placenta is concern, that is easy to prove as not all Chines deny it.

Here, this one is easier to research : "South Korea's National Forensic Service for tests, which showed that the ingredients of the capsules had a 99.7 percent match with human DNA." You realize China would raise hell for these allegations,if it's hard to prove right? They didn't and they can't.

This story dated Aug 10, 2011 www.globaltimes.cn

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid...d-infants.aspx

The Ministry of Health expressed great concern Tuesday over South Korean media reports indicating that Seoul customs authorities had seized a batch of medicine from China that used the dried-up remains of dead infants as its main ingredient.

"We have ordered the Department of Health of Jilin Province to launch an immediate investigation into the reported case," ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said at a press conference.

"China has strict regulations on disposing of the remains of infants, fetuses and placentas. We are firmly against the trading of human bodies or organs. We demand that health departments at all levels strengthen administration in this regard," Deng said.

On Saturday, South Korea's SBS TV reported that a Chinese hospital sold dead infants and placenta to an underground factory that manufactures pills.

In the report, an undercover SBS news team followed their unnamed source to a house in China, where a woman claimed to have stored dead babies in her refrigerator as an ingredient for making the pills.

The team purchased some capsules from the woman and sent one to South Korea's National Forensic Service for tests, which showed that the ingredients of the capsules had a 99.7 percent match with human DNA.

The report said that there was an underground network that manufactured and sold the capsules to South Korea, but did not specify locations or names.

The SBS report came after an earlier report by the Shin- Dong-A magazine, which said the capsules were made in northeastern Yanji and Tumen cities, both under the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin.

The magazine said workers in the underground factories dried infant corpses in microwave ovens before grinding them into powder to make the capsules.

It said the pills are sold to South Korean traders at 500 won ($0.46) per capsule. They were then sold under the names of "infant capsule" or "fetus powder" in South Korea, where the price for each pill could reach 8,000 won.

"The South Korean government is aware of the reports and has started investigating the alleged underground network," an official from the South Korean embassy in Beijing told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.

"South Korean customs are trying to track down any buyers or sellers. The authorities do not have any evidence so far that supports the documentary's allegation, but human ingredients would certainly be considered illegal in South Korea – if it is really happening," the official said.

Jia Qian, head of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Strategy Research Project, told the Global Times that placenta and umbilical cords have been used for making traditional Chinese medicines.

"But as far as I know, Chinese medicine has never used dead infants or fetuses as ingredients," Jia said.

Liu Zhanglin, vice-chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products, echoed Jia's remarks.

"I cannot accept it (using dead infants as ingredients). If the report is true, I will firmly condemn it," Liu told the Global Times.

According to the Bencao Gangmu, or The Compendium of Materia Medica, written by Li Shizhen (1518–1593), one of China's greatest physicians, the placenta is highly nutritious, and long-term intake can keep the hearing and eyesight sharp and bring longevity.

In August 2009, the Qingdao-based Bandao News reported that in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, some restaurants offered placenta dishes at around 500 yuan ($77.75) each.

"Many customers tried the dishes as they heard about the health-giving ability of the placenta," the newspaper quoted a chef as saying. "We bought the placenta for 300 yuan each from local hospitals."

The chef said the dishes were not on the menu and were only offered to regular customers.

Deng, from the health ministry, stressed Tuesday that organizations or individuals are forbidden from selling or buying placenta.

According to Chinese laws and regulations, human corpses cannot be traded or be treated as medical waste. Medical institutions are required to send them to crematoriums or negotiate with families of the deceased for proper disposal.

However, there have been some cases in China where the remains of dead infants have been mishandled.

In March 2010, 21 infant corpses were found in a river in Jining, Shandong Province, after they had been dumped there by two workers at a local hospital who had treated the corpses as medical waste.

The Jining government later announced a regulation to further clarify how to dispose dead infants. It said the local government will shoulder the cost of cremation if families cannot afford it.

Huang Shaojie and Park Gayoung contributed research for this story

[zykron]

Originally Posted by Gregore Mortis

"Any practice that handles the remains as medical waste is strictly prohibited," Deng said.

I worry that one day, we won't have any choice but to do this.

I mean, the calcium in Jello comes from grinding skeletons into a powder. We're pretty much halfway there.