Earthquake in China.

My heart goes out to those who have died in this earthquake. It is shocking to hear that the death toll and injury toll have both hit the thousands. What is especially saddening is that the deaths are mainly children as a school building had collapsed.

The funny thing is that after this news broke out, I was watching "Inside: Body Trafficking" on National Geographic and this documentary was about the industry of organ trafficking. One segment touched on how the Chinese were using the organs of executed prisoners for transplants. I recalled another documentary that I watched in London last October about how unethical this is as most of the prisoners were executed for petty crimes such as theft and were forced to sign a consent form to donate their organs for transplant.

The industry for organs is a very dark one. We have people who have legitimate reason for getting organs but the supply is low. Japanese people aren't willing to give their organs up after death due to the belief that their body has to be whole during burial/ cremetion due to religious reasons. I believe the same goes for certain Muslims. Who are we to deny them the right to their religious beliefs? Nonetheless, it is rather selfish to not give up one's organs as your organs can potentially save lives. Not just 1 life, but lives! Due to the overwhelming demand, its not surprising that people make illegal transactions with funeral homes and then there is no guarantee that these body parts are healthy.

Bringing back the point to the earthquake. A horrible thought came to mind. These thousands of people who died could potentially supply thousands of body parts! That being said, don't start throwing stones at me and say that I'm cold hearted etc. I'm just stating a fact. Sometimes, I think we need to see the silver lining...that one death holds the potential to save lives. Nonetheless, I hope that scientists are able to manufacture body parts in the future and then meet the growing demands as the world ages and our organs fail alongside. I'm also wondering...why can't we use pigs organs? Hmm....