Body Worlds
Encyclopedia
Body Worlds is a traveling exhibition of preserved human
bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination
to reveal inner anatomical
structures. The exhibition's developer and promoter is German anatomist Gunther von Hagens
, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s at the University of Heidelberg.
in 1995. Body Worlds exhibitions have since been hosted by more than 50 museums and venues in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Body Worlds 2 & The Brain – Our Three Pound Gem (concerning the brain and nervous system
) opened in 2005 at the California Science Center
in Los Angeles
. it is showing at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver
.
Body Worlds 3 & The Story of the Heart (concerning the cardiovascular system) opened on February 25, 2006, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
. On July 9, 2009 this show appeared at the Buffalo Museum of Science
in Buffalo, New York
. , it is showing at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
in Denver, Colorado.
Body Worlds 4 debuted February 22, 2008 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
in England
and was in the Cureghem Cellars in Brussels
until March 2009.
Body Worlds & The Mirror of Time (featuring human development and aging) debuted at The O2
in London in October 2008.
Körperwelten & Der Zyklus Des Lebens opened in Heidelberg in January 2009.
Body Worlds exhibitions have received more than 32 million visitors, making them the world's most popular touring attraction.
The exhibit states that its purpose and mission is the education of laymen about the human body, leading to better health awareness. All the human plastinates are from people who donated their bodies for plastination via a body donation program.
Each Body Worlds exhibition contains approximately 25 full-body plastinates with expanded or selective organs shown in positions that enhance the role of certain systems. More than 200 specimens of real human organs and organ systems are displayed in glass cases, some showing various medical conditions.
Some of the specimens, such as the Tai Chi Man, demonstrate interventions, and include prosthetics
such as artificial hip
joint
s or heart valve
s.
Also featured is a liver with cirrhosis and the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker are placed side by side. A prenatal display features fetuses and embryo
s, some with congenital disorder
s.
To produce specimens for Body Worlds, von Hagens employs 340 people at five laboratories in three countries, China, Germany and Kyrgyzstan. Each laboratory is categorized by specialty, with the China laboratory focusing on animal specimens. One of the most difficult specimens to create was the giraffe that appears in Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life. The specimen took three years to complete – ten times longer than it takes to prepare a human body. Ten people are required to move the giraffe, because its final weight (like all specimens after plastination) is equal to the original animal.
Several Body Worlds exhibits (as well as Von Hagens himself) were featured in the 2006 film Casino Royale
. Among the plastinates featured were the Poker Playing Trio (which plays a key role in one scene) and Rearing Horse and Rider.
exhibition of "Our Body: The Universe Within", that exhibiting dead bodies for profit was a "violation of the respect owed to them". "Under the law, the proper place for corpses is in the cemetery," said Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard. Raingeard ordered the exhibition to close within 24 hours or face a fine of 20,000 euros (over 26,000 dollars) for each day it stayed open. The judge also ordered authorities to seize the 17 bodies on display and all of the organs on display from an unknown number of people for proper burial. Gunther Von Hagens issued a press statement denying any connection between the Chinese exhibition and Body Worlds. Similar exhibitions had already been successfully staged in Lyon and Marseille.
created specific legislation for Plastination exhibits in England and Wales
under the Human Tissue Act 2004
. This requires a licence to be granted by the Human Tissue Authority
. In March 2008, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry was granted such a licence to hold Body Worlds 4 and a further licence was granted to the exhibition in the O2, London, in 2008.
The Human Tissue Act superseded the Anatomy Act 1832
which was found by an independent commission (The Redfern Report) to be inadequate on contemporary collection and use of human tissues, following the Alder Hey organs scandal
.
Separate legislation exists in Scotland:
– which amended the Anatomy Act 1984 – covers Scotland. Under the terms of this Act, licences for the handling of human remains, including display, must be granted directly by the Scottish Ministry.
"Subsection 9: If the Scottish Ministers think it desirable to do so in the interests of education, training or research, they may grant a license to a person to publicly display the body or, as the case may be, the part, and a person is authorized under this subsection to so display a body or a part of a body if, at the time of the display he is licensed under this subsection."
Various organizations gave evidence to the Scottish Executive
during the consultation process, including the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
, the Welcome Trust, and the Museums Association
.
National legislation on consent and tissue donation issues is expressed in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
(2006) passed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
which states that "an anatomical gift of a donor’s body or part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education" and prohibits trafficking in donated human organs for profit.
In early 2008 Federal Representative W. Todd Akin proposed an amendment to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
of 1930 to "make it unlawful for a person to import plastinated human remains into the United States." The President of the American Association of Anatomists has expressed concern that the scope of the act is "too broad" and that "Preventing importation of all plastinated specimens could severely restrict their use for medical education.". The bill of amendment was not enacted during the 2007-2008 Congressional session.
Assembly Bill 1519 would make California the first state to prohibit the commercial profit and public display of human bodies or remains, unless exhibitors provide documented informed consent of the deceased or next-of-kin. This bill was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a12/News_Room/Press/20100921AD12PR01.aspx
prohibits the sale or purchase of human remains and "Authorizes certain science centers located in this state to transport plastinated bodies into, within, or out of this state and exhibit such bodies for the purpose of public education without the consent of this state's anatomical board if the science center notifies the board of any such transportation or exhibition, as well as the location and duration of any exhibition, at least 30 days before such transportation or exhibition."
HB28 Relating to Dead Human Bodies would add to the prohibition against buying dead human bodies, the selling of dead human bodies and defines the term "dead human body" to include plastinated bodies and body parts. It would increase the fine for buying or selling a dead human body to up to $5,000.
HB29 Relating to Dead Human Bodies. Would prohibit the commercial display of dead human bodies without a permit from the Department of Health.
State Senate passed legislation regulating body exhibits. A bill that was sponsored by Senator Jim Alesi requires anyone showing an exhibit that uses real human bodies in New York museums to produce a permit detailing their origin.
In 2003, while promoting a display in the Hamburg Museum of Erotica, Von Hagens announced his intention to create a sex plastinate. In May 2009 he unveiled a plastinate of a couple having sex, intended for a Berlin exhibition.
In 2007 The Bishop of Manchester
launched a campaign to coincide with the opening of Body Worlds in that city, accusing the exhibitors of being "body snatchers" and "robbing the NHS", arguing that donation of bodies for plastination would deprive the National Health Service
of organs for transplant. The site included a government petition calling for "a review of the law regarding the policies and practices of touring shows involving corpses".
Consent is a primary focus of discussion. Paul Harris, director of North Carolina's State Board of Funeral Services, has stated, "Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents... That's a reasonable standard to apply." Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) said, "These displays do have important educational benefits, but using bodies against a person's will is unacceptable".
All whole body plastinates exhibited in Body Worlds come from donors who gave informed consent via a unique body donation program. Only adults over eighteen years of age can sign up to the programme.
The pre-natal and infant specimens in the exhibitions are obtained from morphological collections previously held by universities and medical institutions.
Bodies from deceased persons who did not give consent – such as deceased hospital patients from Kyrgyzstan
and executed prisoners from China
– have never been used in a Body Worlds exhibition. In January 2004, the German news magazine Der Spiegel
reported that von Hagens had acquired corpses of executed prisoners in China; he countered that he did not know the origin of the bodies, and returned seven disputed cadavers to China. In 2004, von Hagens obtained an injunction against Der Spiegel
for making the claims.
A commission set up by the California Science Center
in Los Angeles in 2004 confirmed von Hagens' commitment to ethical practices, and published its Summary of Ethical Review. The commission matched death certificates and body donation forms, and verified informed legal consent of the bodies in the exhibitions. However, to ensure the privacy and anonymity promised to body donors, Von Hagens' Institute for Plastination maintains a firewall between body donors' documentation and finished plastinated bodies. To date, more than 9,000 individuals have pledged to donate their bodies to the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, in Germany.
Body Worlds has been accused of perpetuating 'conservative' gender representations. This article notes that male plastinates were presented in 'heroic' 'manly' roles, including the The Rearing Horse and Rider , The Muscleman and his Skeleton, The Fencer, The Runner, and The Chess Player, while female plastinates were shown in terms of beauty, passivity or reproduction, such as the Reclining Pregnant Woman, a plastinate whose womb is exposed to show her unborn child in "a pose taken straight from pornographic cliche"; and The Swimmer, "suspended, midair, in the graceful position of a swimmer. This figure also had significant quantities of hair on its head".
Other female plastinates areThe Figure Skater, The Yoga Lady , the Kneeling Lady , and The Archer.
International trade experts have objected to the way in which bodies for commercial display are imported, because the way their categorization codes (as "art collections") do not require Centers for Disease Control stamps or death certificates, both of which are required for medical cadavers. In most countries plastinated human specimens are classified under Customs Classification Code 97050000.48 “items in anatomical collections". This customs code encompasses “zoological, botanical, mineralogical or anatomical collections or items in such collections.”
In an ethical analysis, Thomas Hibbs, professor of ethics and culture at Baylor University
, a private Baptist
-affiliated institution, compared cadaver displays to pornography, in that they reduce the subject to "the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance."
In a 2006 lecture entitled "Plasti-Nation: How America was Won", Lucia Tanassi, professor of medical ethics and anthropology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
, explored questions for ethicists regarding this new scientific frontier. Tanassi called it provocative that ethics committees have contributed to the popularization of the exhibits without setting forth any process of a line of inquiry, pointing to an ethics report from the California Science Center. As part of that review, bioethicist Hans Martin Sass was sent to Heidelberg to match donor consents with death certificates.
Concerns have been expressed about the educational aspects, especially the inclusion of these displays for school field trips. St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke strongly suggested that Catholic Schools avoid scheduling field trips, stating that parents, and not children, should retain the freedom of deciding whether or not their children will view the exhibit. Concerned with how "some kids process" these "graphic" images, Des McKay, school superintendent in Abbotsford, British Columbia (a suburb of Vancouver
), barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings. In an editorial to the Abbotsford News, Rev. Christoph Reiners questions what affect the exhibits will have on the values of children attending for school field trips. Others — such as the Catholic Schools Office of Phoenix — acknowledge the educational content of Body Worlds. Reporting on the exhibition at the O2 bubble in 2008/2009, Melanie Reid of The Times stated "(Body Worlds) should be compulsory viewing for every child of 10 or over"
Von Hagens maintains copyright
control over pictures of his exhibits. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures, and press photographers are required to sign agreements permitting only a single publication in a defined context, followed by a return of the copyright to Von Hagens. Because of a similar agreement applied to sound bites (O-Töne, in German) a German press organization suggested that the press refrain from reporting about the exhibition in Munich in 2003 .
The Body Worlds website offers plastinated pieces for sale. There are a wide range of products from plastinated fruit jewelry to entire humans. Although some of the pieces require purchasers to be a qualified user many pieces, including animal testicles and baby chicks, require no authorization. There are also extremely realistic plastinate impressions of human hearts and slices (including one slice of copulating humans) for sale to the general public. These sales seem to only support the suggestion that this is a very commercial endeavor.http://www.plastination-products.com/Blood-vessel-configuration/Human-blood-vessel-configuration/Hearts/Human-heart-natural::1239.html
and Our Body: The Universe Within in the United States
, Bodies Revealed in England
, Body Exploration in Taiwan
, Mysteries of the Human Body in South Korea
, Jintai Plastomic: Mysteries of the Human Body in Japan
, Cuerpos Entrañables in Spain
.
Some of these contain exhibits very similar to von Hagens' plastinates; Von Hagens has asserted copyright protection, and has sued Body Exploration and Bodies Revealed.
The suits were based on a presumed copyright of certain positions of the bodies, but the counterparty
asserts that the human body in its diversity cannot be copyrighted.
Such lawsuits have not stopped the competition. While the Korean police in Seoul confiscated a few exhibits from Bodies Revealed, the exhibition went on successfully.
Several of the competing exhibitions have been organized by the publicly traded US company Premier Exhibitions
. They started their first Bodies Revealed exhibition in Blackpool, England which ran from August through October 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the company opened their Bodies Revealed and BODIES... The Exhibition exhibitions in Seoul, Tampa, Miami, New York City, and Seattle. Other exhibition sites in 2006 are Mexico City, Atlanta (GA), London, Great Britain and Las Vegas (Nevada).
Unlike Body Worlds, none of the competing exhibitions or their suppliers has a body donation programme. Dr. Roy Glover, a spokesperson for 'Bodies... The Exhibition' stated that the bodies were 'unclaimed' cadavers deposited at the University of Dalian by the Chinese authorities. In May 2008, a settlement with the attorney general of New York obliged Premier Exhibitions to offer refunds to visitors when it could not prove consent for the use of the bodies in its exhibitions. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo commented: "Despite repeated denials, we now know that Premier itself cannot demonstrate the circumstances that led to the death of the individuals. Nor is Premier able to establish that these people consented to their remains being used in this manner."
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination
Plastination
Plastination is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample....
to reveal inner anatomical
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
structures. The exhibition's developer and promoter is German anatomist Gunther von Hagens
Gunther von Hagens
Gunther von Hagens is a controversial German anatomist who invented the technique for preserving biological tissue specimens called plastination.-Early life:...
, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s at the University of Heidelberg.
History
Body Worlds was first presented in TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in 1995. Body Worlds exhibitions have since been hosted by more than 50 museums and venues in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Body Worlds 2 & The Brain – Our Three Pound Gem (concerning the brain and nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
) opened in 2005 at the California Science Center
California Science Center
The California Science Center is a state agency and museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Billed as the West Coast's largest hands-on science center, the California ScienCenter is a public-private partnership between the State and the California Science Center Foundation...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. it is showing at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
Body Worlds 3 & The Story of the Heart (concerning the cardiovascular system) opened on February 25, 2006, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a science museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, USA. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston...
. On July 9, 2009 this show appeared at the Buffalo Museum of Science
Buffalo Museum of Science
Buffalo Museum of Science is a science museum located at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Buffalo, New York USA, northeast of the downtown district, near the Kensington Expressway. The historic building was designed by August Esenwein and James A. Johnson and opened in 1929...
in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. , it is showing at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is a municipal natural history and science museum in Denver, Colorado. It is a resource for informal science education in the Rocky Mountain region. A variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities help museum visitors learn about the natural history of...
in Denver, Colorado.
Body Worlds 4 debuted February 22, 2008 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England, is a large museum devoted to the development of science, technology, and industry with emphasis on the city's achievements in these fields...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and was in the Cureghem Cellars in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
until March 2009.
Body Worlds & The Mirror of Time (featuring human development and aging) debuted at The O2
The O2 (London)
The O2, visually typeset in branding as The O2, is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars and restaurants...
in London in October 2008.
Körperwelten & Der Zyklus Des Lebens opened in Heidelberg in January 2009.
Body Worlds exhibitions have received more than 32 million visitors, making them the world's most popular touring attraction.
The exhibit states that its purpose and mission is the education of laymen about the human body, leading to better health awareness. All the human plastinates are from people who donated their bodies for plastination via a body donation program.
Each Body Worlds exhibition contains approximately 25 full-body plastinates with expanded or selective organs shown in positions that enhance the role of certain systems. More than 200 specimens of real human organs and organ systems are displayed in glass cases, some showing various medical conditions.
Some of the specimens, such as the Tai Chi Man, demonstrate interventions, and include prosthetics
Prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...
such as artificial hip
Hip replacement
Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi replacement. Such joint replacement orthopaedic surgery generally is conducted to relieve arthritis pain or fix severe...
joint
Joint
A joint is the location at which two or more bones make contact. They are constructed to allow movement and provide mechanical support, and are classified structurally and functionally.-Classification:...
s or heart valve
Heart valve
A heart valve normally allows blood flow in only one direction through the heart. The four valves commonly represented in a mammalian heart determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart...
s.
Also featured is a liver with cirrhosis and the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker are placed side by side. A prenatal display features fetuses and embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
s, some with congenital disorder
Congenital disorder
A congenital disorder, or congenital disease, is a condition existing at birth and often before birth, or that develops during the first month of life , regardless of causation...
s.
To produce specimens for Body Worlds, von Hagens employs 340 people at five laboratories in three countries, China, Germany and Kyrgyzstan. Each laboratory is categorized by specialty, with the China laboratory focusing on animal specimens. One of the most difficult specimens to create was the giraffe that appears in Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life. The specimen took three years to complete – ten times longer than it takes to prepare a human body. Ten people are required to move the giraffe, because its final weight (like all specimens after plastination) is equal to the original animal.
Several Body Worlds exhibits (as well as Von Hagens himself) were featured in the 2006 film Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
. Among the plastinates featured were the Poker Playing Trio (which plays a key role in one scene) and Rearing Horse and Rider.
Czech Republic
In July 2008, the Czech Senate passed a law to address illegal trading in human tissue and ban "advertising of donation of human cells and tissues for money or similar advantages".France
On Tuesday 21 April 2009, a French judge ruled concerning the ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
exhibition of "Our Body: The Universe Within", that exhibiting dead bodies for profit was a "violation of the respect owed to them". "Under the law, the proper place for corpses is in the cemetery," said Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard. Raingeard ordered the exhibition to close within 24 hours or face a fine of 20,000 euros (over 26,000 dollars) for each day it stayed open. The judge also ordered authorities to seize the 17 bodies on display and all of the organs on display from an unknown number of people for proper burial. Gunther Von Hagens issued a press statement denying any connection between the Chinese exhibition and Body Worlds. Similar exhibitions had already been successfully staged in Lyon and Marseille.
England and Wales
The UK ParliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
created specific legislation for Plastination exhibits in England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
under the Human Tissue Act 2004
Human Tissue Act 2004
The Human Tissue Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which consolidated previous legislation and created the Human Tissue Authority to "regulate the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue."...
. This requires a licence to be granted by the Human Tissue Authority
Human Tissue Authority
The Human Tissue Authority is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom that regulates the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue for a number of scheduled purposes such as research, transplantation, and education and training.It was created by the Human...
. In March 2008, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry was granted such a licence to hold Body Worlds 4 and a further licence was granted to the exhibition in the O2, London, in 2008.
The Human Tissue Act superseded the Anatomy Act 1832
Anatomy Act 1832
The Anatomy Act 1832 was a United Kingdom Act of Parliament that gave freer license to doctors, teachers of anatomy, and bona fide medical students to dissect donated bodies...
which was found by an independent commission (The Redfern Report) to be inadequate on contemporary collection and use of human tissues, following the Alder Hey organs scandal
Alder Hey organs scandal
The Alder Hey organs scandal involved the unauthorised removal, retention, and disposal of human tissue, including children’s organs, during the period 1988 to 1995...
.
Separate legislation exists in Scotland:
Scotland
The Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006
The Human Tissue Act 2006 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament to consolidate and overhaul previous legislation regarding the handling of human tissue.Its counterpart in the rest of the United Kingdom is the Human Tissue Act 2004....
– which amended the Anatomy Act 1984 – covers Scotland. Under the terms of this Act, licences for the handling of human remains, including display, must be granted directly by the Scottish Ministry.
"Subsection 9: If the Scottish Ministers think it desirable to do so in the interests of education, training or research, they may grant a license to a person to publicly display the body or, as the case may be, the part, and a person is authorized under this subsection to so display a body or a part of a body if, at the time of the display he is licensed under this subsection."
Various organizations gave evidence to the Scottish Executive
Scottish Executive
The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was established in 1999 as the Scottish Executive, from the extant Scottish Office, and the term Scottish Executive remains its legal name under the Scotland Act 1998...
during the consultation process, including the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is an organisation dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and advancement in surgical practice, through its interest in education, training and examinations, its liaison with external medical bodies and representation of the modern surgical workforce...
, the Welcome Trust, and the Museums Association
Museums Association
The Museums Association is a professional organisation based in London for museum professionals and museums in the United Kingdom.The association is the oldest museum association in the world and was started in 1889 by a small group of museums to protect the interests of museums and galleries...
.
USA
Various legislation is proposed in different American states. Most proposals concentrate on issues regarding the sale of human remains and the consent of the donors.National legislation on consent and tissue donation issues is expressed in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act , and its periodic revisions, is one of the Uniform Acts drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in the United States with the intention of harmonizing state laws in force in the states.UAGA governs organ donations for the purpose...
(2006) passed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is a non-profit, unincorporated association commonly referred to as the U.S. Uniform Law Commission. It consists of commissioners appointed by each state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the United States...
which states that "an anatomical gift of a donor’s body or part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education" and prohibits trafficking in donated human organs for profit.
In early 2008 Federal Representative W. Todd Akin proposed an amendment to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
The Tariff Act of 1930, otherwise known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff was an act, sponsored by United States Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley, and signed into law on June 17, 1930, that raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels.The overall level tariffs...
of 1930 to "make it unlawful for a person to import plastinated human remains into the United States." The President of the American Association of Anatomists has expressed concern that the scope of the act is "too broad" and that "Preventing importation of all plastinated specimens could severely restrict their use for medical education.". The bill of amendment was not enacted during the 2007-2008 Congressional session.
California
California's proposed bill AB1519 (Ma), sponsored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, would "require exhibitors to get a county permit; to do so, they would have to prove to county health officials that the people whose cadavers were on display — or their next of kin — had consented."Assembly Bill 1519 would make California the first state to prohibit the commercial profit and public display of human bodies or remains, unless exhibitors provide documented informed consent of the deceased or next-of-kin. This bill was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a12/News_Room/Press/20100921AD12PR01.aspx
Florida
The state of FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
prohibits the sale or purchase of human remains and "Authorizes certain science centers located in this state to transport plastinated bodies into, within, or out of this state and exhibit such bodies for the purpose of public education without the consent of this state's anatomical board if the science center notifies the board of any such transportation or exhibition, as well as the location and duration of any exhibition, at least 30 days before such transportation or exhibition."
Hawaii
In January 2009 Rep. Marcus Oshiro introduced two bills prompted by presentation of the BODIES Exhibition in that state.HB28 Relating to Dead Human Bodies would add to the prohibition against buying dead human bodies, the selling of dead human bodies and defines the term "dead human body" to include plastinated bodies and body parts. It would increase the fine for buying or selling a dead human body to up to $5,000.
HB29 Relating to Dead Human Bodies. Would prohibit the commercial display of dead human bodies without a permit from the Department of Health.
New York
In June 2008, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State Senate passed legislation regulating body exhibits. A bill that was sponsored by Senator Jim Alesi requires anyone showing an exhibit that uses real human bodies in New York museums to produce a permit detailing their origin.
Pennsylvania
Representative Mike Fleck's proposed bill would require evidence of informed consent from the decedent or relatives of all humans whose remains are put on display.Washington
The state of Washington considered a bill that would "require written authorization to display human remains for a commercial purpose."Controversies
Body Worlds exhibitions have controversy and debate focused on various issues. Religious groups, including representatives of the Catholic Church and some Jewish rabbis have objected to the display of human remains, stating that it is inconsistent with reverence towards the human body.In 2003, while promoting a display in the Hamburg Museum of Erotica, Von Hagens announced his intention to create a sex plastinate. In May 2009 he unveiled a plastinate of a couple having sex, intended for a Berlin exhibition.
In 2007 The Bishop of Manchester
Bishop of Manchester
The Bishop of Manchester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.The current bishop is the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, the 11th Lord Bishop of Manchester, who signs Nigel Manchester. The bishop's official residence is Bishopscourt, Bury New Road,...
launched a campaign to coincide with the opening of Body Worlds in that city, accusing the exhibitors of being "body snatchers" and "robbing the NHS", arguing that donation of bodies for plastination would deprive the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
of organs for transplant. The site included a government petition calling for "a review of the law regarding the policies and practices of touring shows involving corpses".
Consent is a primary focus of discussion. Paul Harris, director of North Carolina's State Board of Funeral Services, has stated, "Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents... That's a reasonable standard to apply." Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) said, "These displays do have important educational benefits, but using bodies against a person's will is unacceptable".
All whole body plastinates exhibited in Body Worlds come from donors who gave informed consent via a unique body donation program. Only adults over eighteen years of age can sign up to the programme.
The pre-natal and infant specimens in the exhibitions are obtained from morphological collections previously held by universities and medical institutions.
Bodies from deceased persons who did not give consent – such as deceased hospital patients from Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
and executed prisoners from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
– have never been used in a Body Worlds exhibition. In January 2004, the German news magazine Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
reported that von Hagens had acquired corpses of executed prisoners in China; he countered that he did not know the origin of the bodies, and returned seven disputed cadavers to China. In 2004, von Hagens obtained an injunction against Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
for making the claims.
A commission set up by the California Science Center
California Science Center
The California Science Center is a state agency and museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Billed as the West Coast's largest hands-on science center, the California ScienCenter is a public-private partnership between the State and the California Science Center Foundation...
in Los Angeles in 2004 confirmed von Hagens' commitment to ethical practices, and published its Summary of Ethical Review. The commission matched death certificates and body donation forms, and verified informed legal consent of the bodies in the exhibitions. However, to ensure the privacy and anonymity promised to body donors, Von Hagens' Institute for Plastination maintains a firewall between body donors' documentation and finished plastinated bodies. To date, more than 9,000 individuals have pledged to donate their bodies to the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, in Germany.
Body Worlds has been accused of perpetuating 'conservative' gender representations. This article notes that male plastinates were presented in 'heroic' 'manly' roles, including the The Rearing Horse and Rider , The Muscleman and his Skeleton, The Fencer, The Runner, and The Chess Player, while female plastinates were shown in terms of beauty, passivity or reproduction, such as the Reclining Pregnant Woman, a plastinate whose womb is exposed to show her unborn child in "a pose taken straight from pornographic cliche"; and The Swimmer, "suspended, midair, in the graceful position of a swimmer. This figure also had significant quantities of hair on its head".
Other female plastinates areThe Figure Skater, The Yoga Lady , the Kneeling Lady , and The Archer.
International trade experts have objected to the way in which bodies for commercial display are imported, because the way their categorization codes (as "art collections") do not require Centers for Disease Control stamps or death certificates, both of which are required for medical cadavers. In most countries plastinated human specimens are classified under Customs Classification Code 97050000.48 “items in anatomical collections". This customs code encompasses “zoological, botanical, mineralogical or anatomical collections or items in such collections.”
In an ethical analysis, Thomas Hibbs, professor of ethics and culture at Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
, a private Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
-affiliated institution, compared cadaver displays to pornography, in that they reduce the subject to "the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance."
In a 2006 lecture entitled "Plasti-Nation: How America was Won", Lucia Tanassi, professor of medical ethics and anthropology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
The Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a collection of several hospitals and clinics, as well as the schools of medicine and nursing associated with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.It comprises the following units:...
, explored questions for ethicists regarding this new scientific frontier. Tanassi called it provocative that ethics committees have contributed to the popularization of the exhibits without setting forth any process of a line of inquiry, pointing to an ethics report from the California Science Center. As part of that review, bioethicist Hans Martin Sass was sent to Heidelberg to match donor consents with death certificates.
Concerns have been expressed about the educational aspects, especially the inclusion of these displays for school field trips. St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke strongly suggested that Catholic Schools avoid scheduling field trips, stating that parents, and not children, should retain the freedom of deciding whether or not their children will view the exhibit. Concerned with how "some kids process" these "graphic" images, Des McKay, school superintendent in Abbotsford, British Columbia (a suburb of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
), barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings. In an editorial to the Abbotsford News, Rev. Christoph Reiners questions what affect the exhibits will have on the values of children attending for school field trips. Others — such as the Catholic Schools Office of Phoenix — acknowledge the educational content of Body Worlds. Reporting on the exhibition at the O2 bubble in 2008/2009, Melanie Reid of The Times stated "(Body Worlds) should be compulsory viewing for every child of 10 or over"
Von Hagens maintains copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
control over pictures of his exhibits. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures, and press photographers are required to sign agreements permitting only a single publication in a defined context, followed by a return of the copyright to Von Hagens. Because of a similar agreement applied to sound bites (O-Töne, in German) a German press organization suggested that the press refrain from reporting about the exhibition in Munich in 2003 .
The Body Worlds website offers plastinated pieces for sale. There are a wide range of products from plastinated fruit jewelry to entire humans. Although some of the pieces require purchasers to be a qualified user many pieces, including animal testicles and baby chicks, require no authorization. There are also extremely realistic plastinate impressions of human hearts and slices (including one slice of copulating humans) for sale to the general public. These sales seem to only support the suggestion that this is a very commercial endeavor.http://www.plastination-products.com/Blood-vessel-configuration/Human-blood-vessel-configuration/Hearts/Human-heart-natural::1239.html
Competitors
The success of Body Worlds has given rise to several similar shows featuring plastinated cadavers, including BODIES... The ExhibitionBODIES... The Exhibition
Bodies… The Exhibition is a controversial exhibition showcasing preserved human bodies dissected to display bodily systems. It opened in Tampa, Florida on August 20, 2005...
and Our Body: The Universe Within in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Bodies Revealed in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Body Exploration in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Mysteries of the Human Body in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Jintai Plastomic: Mysteries of the Human Body in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Cuerpos Entrañables in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Some of these contain exhibits very similar to von Hagens' plastinates; Von Hagens has asserted copyright protection, and has sued Body Exploration and Bodies Revealed.
The suits were based on a presumed copyright of certain positions of the bodies, but the counterparty
Counterparty
A counterparty is a legal and financial term. It means a party to a contract. A counterparty is usually the entity with whom one negotiates on a given agreement, and the term can refer to either party or both, depending on context....
asserts that the human body in its diversity cannot be copyrighted.
Such lawsuits have not stopped the competition. While the Korean police in Seoul confiscated a few exhibits from Bodies Revealed, the exhibition went on successfully.
Several of the competing exhibitions have been organized by the publicly traded US company Premier Exhibitions
Premier Exhibitions
Premier Exhibitions Inc is an Atlanta, Georgia-based company that organizes traveling exhibitions.Its two most prominent exhibits are artifacts from the RMS Titanic and BODIES.....
. They started their first Bodies Revealed exhibition in Blackpool, England which ran from August through October 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the company opened their Bodies Revealed and BODIES... The Exhibition exhibitions in Seoul, Tampa, Miami, New York City, and Seattle. Other exhibition sites in 2006 are Mexico City, Atlanta (GA), London, Great Britain and Las Vegas (Nevada).
Unlike Body Worlds, none of the competing exhibitions or their suppliers has a body donation programme. Dr. Roy Glover, a spokesperson for 'Bodies... The Exhibition' stated that the bodies were 'unclaimed' cadavers deposited at the University of Dalian by the Chinese authorities. In May 2008, a settlement with the attorney general of New York obliged Premier Exhibitions to offer refunds to visitors when it could not prove consent for the use of the bodies in its exhibitions. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo commented: "Despite repeated denials, we now know that Premier itself cannot demonstrate the circumstances that led to the death of the individuals. Nor is Premier able to establish that these people consented to their remains being used in this manner."
Further reading
- Gottfried Bogusch, Renate Graf, Thomas Schnalke. Auf Leben und Tod Beiträge zur Diskussion um die Ausstellung "Körperwelten", Schriften aus dem Berliner Medizinhistorischen Museum, 2003, VII, 136 S. 62 Abb., Softcover ISBN 978-3-7985-1424-9.
- Lawrence Burns. Gunther Von Hagens' BODY WORLDS: Selling Beautiful Education, The American Journal of Bioethics 2007(4):12.
- Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca. Wachsfigur - Mensch - Plastinat. Über die Mitteilbarkeit von Sehen, Nennen und Wissen, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte (1999), Heft 1.
- Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca und Thomas Kliche (Hg.). Verführerische Leichen – verbotener Verfall, "Körperwelten" als gesellschaftliches Schlüsselereignis, Lengerich u.a.: Pabst Verlag 2006
- Misia Sophia Doms. Die Ausstellung „Körperwelten“ und der Umgang mit der endlichen Leiblichkeit, Volkskunde in Rheinland Pfalz 17/1 (2002). S. 62-108.
- Gunther von Hagens. Body Worlds - The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies. Amazon-UK.
- Gunther von Hagens, No Skeletons in the Closet — Facts, Background and Conclusions. Institute for Plastination, November 17, 2003.
- Franz Josef Wetz, Brigitte Tag (Ed.). Schöne Neue Körperwelten, Der Streit um die Ausstellung, Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 2001. Sixteen authors discuss the various ethical and aesthetical aspects of Body Worlds, in German.
- Angelina Whalley (Ed.). Pushing the Limits - Encounters with Gunther von Hagens, pp 45–36. 2005.
- Linda Schulte-Sasse. Advise and Consent: On the Americanization of Body Worlds, Biosocieties, Volume 1, Issue 04, pp 369–384, Cambridge University Press (now published by Palgrave Macmillan), December 2006.