China to investigate pills made of 'baby flesh'

China has launched an investigation in the wake of a South Korea media report suggesting stamina boosting capsules from China are made using the flesh of dead babies.

Deng Haihua, spokesman of the Health Ministry, said that the country has strict management of disposal of infant and fetal remains as well as placentas, and that the ministry has instructed its provincial agency in Jilin to look into the case.

"Any practice that handles the remains as medical waste is strictly prohibited," the China Daily quoted Haihua, as saying.

One of the major national television networks in South Korea recently broadcast a documentary about the appearance of capsules from China containing dead baby flesh.

The television team claimed to have been to China, found the hospital that sold the materials, and taken video of the manufacturing process.

According to a source the 'tonic' capsules are mainly sent to South Korea through members of the Korean ethnic group in China.

The content of the pills received by the television team was 99.7 percent identical with humans, the program said.