Shanghai. The latest trend in cosmetic surgery – neck transplants, may force a rethink in the way China executes condemned prisoners. The organs harvested from Chinese criminals have become the mainstay of the lucrative transplant industry, not just in China but worldwide. Previously the demand has mostly been for liver, heart and kidney transplants, but the cosmetic transplant industry is growing rapidly. A major stumbling block for neck transplants is that the standard execution method, a pistol shot to the base of the skull, can often damage the upper tissues and skin of the neck.
Sir Cliff Richard
An Asia Beat investigation found that the neck transplant demand was generally coming from the West and from older women (and Cliff Richard obviously), but also wealthy Chinese women. Joan Collins also apparently swears by Chinese necks, calling them “Soft, flexible and oh so inscrutable”.
A Chinese government medical spokesperson, who we’ll call Cao to protect anonymity, told The Asia Beat in a secret interview that, “We are looking into it. Obviously we can’t hang them either, but we need to find a place on the body to shoot them that, you know, Madonna won’t want to buy in a couple of years.”
A neck transplant in a top Shanghai hospital can cost up to US$80, 000.
(c) The Asia Beat 2012.
