BODIES... The Exhibition

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"BODIES... The Exhibition" is a controversial exhibit currently showing in Pittsburgh, New York City, Las Vegas, Miami, Amsterdam, Seattle, and São Paulo, (with previous showings in Tampa, and future openings in Washington DC and other cities) showcasing preserved human bodies dissected to display bodily systems.

The museum is set up so that one starts at the skeletal system, and more layers (muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, urinary, and reproductive systems; as well as fetal development and the treated body) are added in succesive rooms. Containing about twenty bodies in total, each exhibition uses real human bodies that have been preserved permanently by a process called "polymer preservation" so that they will not decay. This exhibition is organized by the publicly traded corporation, Premier Exhibitions Incorporated.

Some of the specimens are arranged so that they are performing activities such as playing basketball or conducting an orchestra. Along the way are other displays showing a human intestine stretched out, the polluted lung of a smoker, and all of the arteries and veins without the body itself. One section includes several fetuses in various stages of development. All of the fetuses died due to miscarriages.

1 Controversy
2 Thefts
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Controversy

While the exhibit's representatives claim that all of the bodies were obtained through the Dalian Medical University Plastination Laboratories in China, human rights campaigners point out that Dalian University "[has] had been previously implicated in the use of executed prisoners for commercial purposes".^[1] If the bodies are those Chinese prisoners whose bodies were used without their consent, it may be a violation of human rights and of Chinese law.

[edit] Thefts

A kidney was stolen from an exhibit while in Seattle,Washington, on December 30, 2006. It was later found in the possession of a Tacoma man on February 23, 2007.^[2]

[edit] References

^ Jacobs, Andrew. "Exhibitions Raises Questions Beyond Taste", The New York Times, November 18, 2005
^ "Tip leads police to stolen human kidney", Yahoo! News, 23 February 2007.