Bodies
Bodies is a live anatomical exhibition showing real dead humans that have been preserved by a process called plastination. It follows in the footsteps of the more famous exhibition Bodyworlds, but looks like it should cause no less controversy. If you listen to some people, the picture painted of the world of plastination exhibitions is one of accusations, ghoulish behaviour and harsh justice at the hands of the Chinese.
First of all, let's get one thing straight: Bodies is not the same exhibition as Bodyworlds. It's a copycat, of which there are now several touring the globe. However, it does use the same techniques to preserve its dead bodies.
The technique of plastination was invented by Dr Gunther von Hagens, a German anatomist, son of a Nazi, and all-round crazy guy. It involves the replacement of all the body's fluids with a liquid plastic which then hardens, preserving the structure of the tissues. Once a body is completely dried it will last pretty much indefinitely. This removal of all fluids is the same principle the ancient Egyptians used to preserve their mummies. The great advantage of Dr von Hagens' invention has over traditional anatomical preservation methods is that it allows a specimen to be preserved without having to keep it in a jar of alcohol. The tissues treated in this way are even preserved down to microscopic detail, making them powerful educational tools.
make you think, nothing will
Of course, some have claimed that the purpose of exhibiting these preserved specimens has little to with education, and more to do with using people's morbid curiosity to strip them of their hard-earned cash. While it's true that plastination exhibitions have been extremely popular and lucrative (18 million Bodyworlds visitors x entrance fee = ker-ching!) it's also true that, assuming you're game enough to step in the door, you are guaranteed to leave with a better understanding of what makes your body tick than you did before. In particular, Bodyworlds' tagline of "Come see what you're made of" seems to sum up the whole issue.
So, what should you expect to see should you visit one of these exhibitions? Dead bodies, right? Well, yes, but you'll also see plenty of organs and dissected bits. The posing of the few whole bodies is intended to demonstrate some teaching point, generally relating to a biological system. For example, a body posed at a chess board in a thoughtful stance would be displaying its brain, and the whole path of the nervous system down to the fingertips that grasp a chess piece. You will also get the chance to see many of the diseases that can affect your body. If you've ever wondered what cancer actually looks like, or what a stroke does then you'll get the chance to find out. Plus of course, the obligatory ramming home of the stark fact that smoking and drinking will wreck just about every system in your body.
Which all sounds rather educational (and it is). So what's the catch? Well, I mentioned controversy and dodgy behaviour , right? It seems that there have been some accusations flying around between some of these exhibitions for a while now, principally centering on the source of these bodies. Namely that some have been sourced from China , and that they are possibly the bodies of executed convicts.
China is the execution capital of the world, killing off at least 3,400 people in 2004. The only other country to come close is the US . Worse, China executes not just criminals but also political prisoners, such as members of the banned religious group Falun Gong. Could some of these plastinated bodies be Falun Gong practitioners murdered by the Chinese government? Possibly.
The company behind the Bodies exhibition, Premier Exhibitions, sources its bodies from a Dr Sui Hongjin of Dalian Medical University in China . Two years ago he was accused of using the bodies of political prisoners for shows, a claim which he denied. He did however return seven bodies, after they were found to have bullet holes in the back of their heads. What is also interesting is that Dr Hongjin was formerly the manager of Dr Von Hagens' Bodyworlds show.
It should be noted however, that Bodyworlds is different from the other shows in that it is supported by the long-established Institute for Plastination, which maintains a register of those willing to donate their bodies to it. This register is 28 years old, and has so far received around 350 bodies through this entirely legitimate means. It's therefore unlikely that Bodyworlds is in fact exhibiting executed crims in its shows.
Premier Exhibitions also strenuously points out that it has a clause in it's supply contract demanding that any bodies the Chinese send it are dead from natural causes. While such a legal get-out is obviously less watertight than Bodyworlds' position, I personally think it's unlikely that the current Bodies exhibition has any dodgy content. Although I'm less confident that it has always been that way in the past.
I'll leave it up to you to decide about the ethics of visiting the exhibition. All I can say is that if nothing else it will make you think. Even if that thinking is just imagining the internal organs of the person sitting opposite you on the train tomorrow morning.
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