Chinese company accused of using corpses for bone grafts

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 23. August 2024

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TAIYUAN, China: Over the last couple of weeks, details have begun emerging of an investigation into a disturbing and highly profitable trade in dead body parts for use in the production of allogenic dental bone grafts in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi. The case was initially brought to light by a local criminal lawyer, who alleged in a social media post that a local company was under investigation for having illegally acquired over 4,000 bodies from crematoriums and medical laboratories across the region for use within the dental industry.

According to the South China Morning Post, local authorities have since confirmed that an investigation into the issue is ongoing, thereby lending credence to the initial claims. While the criminal case must be left to run its proper course, the allegations name local company Shanxi Aorui Biomaterials as operating at the centre of an extensive network supplying dead body parts and employing the bone to produce allogenic bone grafts. It has also been said that the company had profited from the trade to the extent of 380 million yuan (€48.23 million)^* between January 2015 and July 2023. Another staggering detail is that, according to the lawyer, local police had seized over 18 tonnes of bones and more than 34,000 semi-finished and finished products.

The fallout from the accusations and the enormous media attention generated has been significant. According to reports by Radio Free Asia, the lawyer who initially made the allegations has been removed from his position as director at his law firm, and internet searches into the case have been increasingly subjected to censorship within China since the story broke.

Aside from its obviously macabre elements, the unfolding Chinese case draws our attention to the hidden and unethical manner in which dental materials have sometimes been acquired, even by reputable medical institutions. Cultural tendencies to manage death in a highly closed environment, coupled with a highly profitable marketplace, provide an opening that opportunistic groups with no scruples may exploit. Such instances are, of course, not limited to China. A recent article from Boston radio station WBUR, for example, exposed how an employee of Harvard Medical School was similarly implicated in illegally selling parts from bodies donated to science. The extent to which the global dental industry is involved in these iniquitous acts requires greater investigation, but the Chinese case should be taken as a cautionary tale.

Editorial note:

^* Calculated on the OANDA platform for 31 July 2023.