Beijing investigates transplants for tourists

China announced that it was investigating whether 17 Japanese tourists had received illegal kidney and liver transplants in China. China has banned all transplants for foreigners because an estimated 1.5 million Chinese are on waiting lists for transplants. The ban was issued May 1, 2007. "China strongly opposes organ transplant tourism," the Ministry of Health said in a statement on its Web site, adding that the hospitals and medical personnel "who carried out the organ transplants against the rules will be severely dealt with according to the law."