A report by some Canadian individuals alleging that China "harvests organs from live Falun Gong prisoners" is based on rumors and totally groundless, a diplomat from the Chinese embassy said in Ottawa Wednesday.

 

The report, which was released early this month by a former Canadian MP, David Kilgour, and human rights lawyer David Matas, is based mostly on pre-existing information either collected from the Internet or provided by Falun Gong practitioners in Canada, said Zhang Weidong, spokesman for the embassy at a press conference.

 

So it is "biased and groundless," Zhang said.

 

The many apparent mistakes in the report, including the location of Chinese cities, only call into question the truth of the report, he said.

 

The spokesman said that China has adopted a very prudent and responsible attitude on the issue of human organ transplant, having consistently abided by the World Health Organization principles.

 

China has issued a regulation on human organ transplants, explicitly banning the sale of human organs and introducing a set of medical standards for organ transplants in an effort to guarantee medical safety and the health of patients, he said.

 

Zhang said that Falun Gong is an evil cult that preaches supernatural power and has been trying to make troubles for the Chinese government in foreign countries including Canada after being banned in 1999.

 

Falun Gong practitioners are by far not the mainstream of overseas Chinese, Zhang said. He called on the practitioners to disengage from the cult and come back to normal life.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2006)