Well with such a rich target Asian market to gather material from, this business has vast potential. This could also start the process to end burials and cremation!



7 May 2012 Last updated at 04:27 ET

S Korea 'to target powdered human flesh capsules'

Capsules and pills (file image) The capsules containing the powdered flesh were found both in luggage and in the post

South Korea says it will increase customs inspections targeting capsules containing powdered human flesh.

The Korea Customs Service said it had found almost 17,500 of the capsules being smuggled into the country from China since August 2011.

The powdered flesh, which officials said came from dead babies and foetuses, is reportedly thought by some to cure disease and boost stamina.

But officials said the capsules were full of bacteria and a health risk.

"It was confirmed those capsules contain materials harmful to the human body, such as super bacteria. We need to take tougher measures to protect public health," a customs official was quoted as saying by the Korea Times.

Inspections are to be stepped up on shipments of drugs arriving from north-east China, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said that capsules were being dyed or switched into boxes of other drugs in a bid to disguise them.

Some of the capsules were found in travellers' luggage and some in the post, customs officials said.

Allegations that human flesh capsules were being trafficked from north-east China into South Korea emerged last year in a South Korean television documentary.

At the time China's Health Ministry said it was investigating the claims raised by the programme.

Ministry spokesman Deng Haihua, quoted at the time in China Daily, said China had "strict management of disposal of infant and foetal remains as well as placentas".

"Any practice that handles the remains as medical waste is strictly prohibited," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17993104


8 May 2012 Last updated at 10:24 ET Help

South Korea has stepped up customs inspections to try and stop capsules filled with powdered human flesh being smuggled into the country from China.

Thousands of the pills have been found in luggage and in the post, often disguised as energy boosters.

Catharina Moh reports

Published on May 8, 2012 by 154thmedia2012

SEOUL: South Korea has intensified a crackdown on the smuggling of capsules from China containing the powdered flesh of dead babies, taken by some as a cure for disease or a way to boost sexual performance, a customs official said Tuesday.

The gruesome practice came to light Sunday when Korea Customs said it had uncovered 35 attempts to import a total of 17,451 such capsules since last August.

The pills -- filled with the dried and powdered flesh of foetuses or dead infants -- were intercepted in the mail or in customs searches at airports.

The customs service said that apart from ethical questions, the capsules were contaminated with "super bacteria" and other disease-causing organisms.

Most pills were sent from the northeastern Chinese cities of Yanji and Jilin as well as cities including Qingdao and Tianjin at the request of customers in South Korea, it said.

Some were hidden in packages of legitimate drugs to disguise their contents.

Officials now closely monitor flights from "certain Chinese regions" and inspect all the luggage of all passengers far more often than before, Kim Soo-Yeon, a Korea Customs official in charge of customs clearance told AFP.

Bringing in such pills breaches a regulation banning items that "violate social dignity and customs", he said.

No organised attempts to smuggle in the capsules have so far been detected, Kim said, and most offenders were individual travellers. Some claimed they were unaware of what they were carrying.

"It's not just human-flesh pills. We also target other similarly banned but popular items like seal penises and bear gall bladders," said Kim, referring to items favoured by middle-aged men as libido enhancers.

"We have drastically stepped up resources in these efforts ... even risking great inconvenience to visitors from these regions," he said.

Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the human-flesh capsules sell for 40,000-50,000 won (US$35-44) each at some oriental herbal medicine shops.

Experts say the practice stems from a superstitious belief that eating body parts of young infants will give one special physical strength or cure disease.

"It is a bizarre...practice, just like a belief that eating the penis of actively-mating seals or drinking the bile of strong bears will help your libido," Ha Ji-Hyun, a psychiatrist at Konkuk University medical centre, told Chosun.

Maeil Business Newspaper urged the Chinese government Tuesday to crack down on producers of the human-flesh capsules and impose heavy punishments, calling the practice "truly shocking."

"No government in the world could possibly understand the Chinese government for letting such an inhuman practice go unpunished," it said in an editorial.

It added that desperate cancer patients and construction workers from China undertaking gruelling work were the main customers in the South.

"I'm trembling with shock that people who eat such stuff are my compatriots," one anonymous South Korean Internet user commented. Another called the practice "absolutely hideous".

www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1199961/1/.html

8 May 2012 Last updated at 20:01 ET


'One in six cancers worldwide are caused by infection'

By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online
Human papillomavirus particle Infection with human papillomavirus can cause cervical cancer

More men 'have oral cancer virus'
Switch in cervical cancer vaccine

One in six cancers - two million a year globally - are caused by largely treatable or preventable infections, new estimates suggest.

The Lancet Infectious Diseases review, which looked at incidence rates for 27 cancers in 184 countries, found four main infections are responsible.

These four - human papillomaviruses, Helicobacter pylori and hepatitis B and C viruses - account for 1.9m cases of cervical, gut and liver cancers.

Most cases are in the developing world.

The team from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France says more efforts are needed to tackle these avoidable cases and recognise cancer as a communicable disease.

'Preventable'

The proportion of cancers related to infection is about three times higher in parts of the developing world, such as east Asia, than in developed countries like the UK - 22.9% versus 7.4%, respectively.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Infection prevention ...could have a substantial effect on the future burden of cancer worldwide”

Dr Catherine de Martel and Dr Martyn Plummer

Nearly a third of cases occur in people younger than 50 years.

Among women, cancer of the cervix accounted for about half of the infection-related cancers. In men, more than 80% were liver and gastric cancers.

Drs Catherine de Martel and Martyn Plummer, who led the research, said: "Infections with certain viruses, bacteria, and parasites are some of the biggest and preventable causes of cancer worldwide

"Application of existing public-health methods for infection prevention, such as vaccination, safer injection practice, or antimicrobial treatments, could have a substantial effect on the future burden of cancer worldwide."

Vaccines are available to protect against human papillomavirus (HPV) - which is linked to cancer of the cervix - and hepatitis B virus - an established cause of liver cancer.

And experts know that stomach cancer can be avoided by clearing the bacterial infection H. pylori from the gut using a course of antibiotics.

Commenting on the work, Dr Goodarz Danaei from Harvard School of Public Medicine in Boston, the US, said: "Since effective and relatively low-cost vaccines for HPV and HBV are available, increasing coverage should be a priority for health systems in high-burden countries."

Jessica Harris of Cancer Research UK said: "It's important that authorities worldwide make every effort to reduce the number of infection-related cancers, especially when many of these infections can be prevented. In the UK, infections are thought to be responsible for 3% of cancers, or around 9,700 cases each year.

"Vaccination against HPV, which causes cervical cancer, should go a long way towards reducing rates of this disease in the UK. But it's important that uptake of the vaccination remains high. At a global level, if the vaccine were available in more countries, many thousands more cases could be prevented."

Interesting, but the act remains, the vast majority of fatal cancers are caused by smoking.

Interesting, but the act remains, the vast majority of fatal cancers are caused by smoking.

Good to see you posting Roy.

I lucked out and have never had to kick the habit; and I'm the son of a tobacco farmer to boot

no smoking, Good food, good drink and lots of walking with brief intensive periods of exercise-and that includes SEX will keep the doctor away.

And none of those human capsules to boost the powers What the fu*k has the world come to

What troubles me more, is the killing of endangered species, like gorillas and rhinoceros' for their use in phony drugs claiming to boost the waning libidos of wealthy old men.

It is true that smoking can lead to cancer as can over exposure to the sun as can genetic make up sd can a lingering infection as can a virus as can a virus or being overweight. So we can not say that most cancers are caused by smoking , I have cancer but have never smoked ,,,but there is some proof that there is a bug in the water here in DR that can cause cancer ,,that has been told to me by 2 well known doctors here.

I'm very sorry that you are afflicted by cancer. I sincerely hope that you are receiving the healthcare that you need and that you recover.