(Minghui.org) H.R.3694, the “STOP Organ Trafficking Act,” was one of the resolutions passed by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives on April 21, according to a Voice of America (VOA) report early yesterday.

Journalists, researchers, and United Nations reports that have condemned the forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China have commented on the resolution that was introduced to the Committee on October 6, 2015.

Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that organ trafficking exists in more than 20 nations and that criminal and terrorist organizations have been actively involved in this black market said to be worth up to a billion dollars.

Representative Dave Trott said that organ trafficking is a serious crime that has been around for a long time, but that the Untied States has not created policies or laws in time to fight against it.

One sentence in the resolution states: “The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 10 percent of all transplanted kidneys worldwide are illegally obtained, often bought from vulnerable impoverished persons or forcibly harvested from prisoners.”

The resolution also indicated that Falun Gong practitioners may be victims of organ harvesting in China. Rep. Trott said that Falun Gong has been persecuted in China for many years.

Researcher and journalist Ethan Gutmann estimates that “approximately 65,000 Falun Gong adherents may have been killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008, and that a number of other religious and ethnic minorities may also have been targeted.”

Rep. Trott urged the US government to take action against organ trafficking, saying that the US government should lead the efforts to stop this notorious crime and stand with those who are the most vulnerable in the world.

After passing the Foreign Affairs Committee, this resolution will be voted on by all the members of the House of Representatives.