Body Worlds
Body Worlds is a traveling exposition of dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures of the body that have been preserved through the process of plastination. Gunther von Hagens developed the preservation process which "unite subtle anatomy and modern polymer chemistry", in the late 1970s.
A series of Body Worlds anatomical exhibitions has toured many countries worldwide, sometimes raising controversies about the sourcing and display of actual human corpses and body parts. Von Hagens maintains that all human specimens were obtained with full knowledge and consent of the donors before they died, but this has not been independently verified, and in 2004 von Hagens returned seven corpses to China because they showed evidence of being executed prisoners. A competing exhibition, Bodies: The Exhibition, openly sources its bodies from "unclaimed bodies" in China, which can include executed prisoners.
In addition to temporary traveling exhibitions, permanent Body Worlds exhibits exists in Berlin, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Guben, and San Jose, CA.
Description
The exhibit states that its purpose and mission is the education of laypeople about the human body, leading to better health awareness. 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.To produce specimens for Body Worlds, von Hagens employs around 100 people at his laboratory in Guben, Germany. One of the most difficult specimens to create was the giraffe that appears in 'Animal Inside Out'. 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 is equal to the original animal.
Many of the whole-body specimens are partially dissected in the Écorché style of 17th and 18th century European tradition, while others are sliced in various anatomical planes to permit understanding of anatomical structure. In addition, more than 200 specimens of real human organs and organ systems are typically separately displayed in glass cases, some showing various medical conditions. Some of the whole-body specimens, such as the "Tai Chi Man", demonstrate interventions, and include prosthetics such as artificial hip joints or heart valves. Often featured is a liver with cirrhosis, and the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker are placed for side by side comparison. A prenatal display may feature fetuses and embryos, some with congenital disorders.
Exhibitions
Body Worlds exhibitions have received more than 50 million visitors, making them the world's most popular touring attraction. Body Worlds was first presented in Tokyo in 1995, and related 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 opened in 2005 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. it was showing at the Telus World of Science in Vancouver. Several Body Worlds exhibits were featured in the 2006 film Casino Royale. Among the plastinates seen were the Poker Playing Trio and Rearing Horse and Rider.Body Worlds 3 & The Story of the Heart opened on 25 February 2006, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. On 9 July 2009 this show appeared at the Buffalo Museum of Science in Buffalo, New York., it was showing at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Colorado. Body Worlds 4 debuted 22 February 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 debuted at The O2 in London in October 2008. Körperwelten & Der Zyklus Des Lebens opened in Heidelberg in January 2009. Body Worlds Vital was inaugurated at the Universum museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2012.
In 2017, the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, opened a semi-permanent exhibition called Body Worlds Decoded. Sponsored by venture capitalist John Doerr and his wife Ann, the exhibit features plastinated specimens supplemented by augmented reality and a digital anatomy table. The exhibit is intended to run for at least 10 years.
Education
Body Worlds has prepared free teaching guides for secondary school education, typically made available through organizations hosting its exhibitions.In 2005, the New York University College of Dentistry experimented with replacing traditional laboratory dissection with the study of dissected and plastinated slices of specimens, for the training of beginning dental students.
Regulatory framework
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
In response to the Paris exhibition of Our Body: The Universe Within, two local human rights groups filed a legal complaint against the owner of the exhibit, Gunther Von Hagens. The groups' lawyer Richard Sedillot argued that the existence of exhibits profiting from the display of human bodies creates a supply demand to produce and traffick more bodies through ethically dubious means to supply the exhibits. Potential scenarios given by the lawyer included structural violence such as neglecting medical patients or incentising an increase in death row convictions in China. Sedillot stated "I am convinced that the exhibition is the last step in a horrible traffic operation of human bodies originating in China."On Tuesday 21 April 2009, Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard ruled 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". Raingeard ordered the exhibition to close within 24 hours or face a fine of €20,000 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. Von Hagens issued a press statement denying any connection between the closed Chinese exhibition and his Body Worlds franchise. Similar exhibitions had already been successfully staged in Lyon and Marseille.
United Kingdom
England and Wales
The UK Parliament created legislation for exhibits of human remains, including plastinated bodies and body parts, in England and Wales under the Human Tissue Act 2004. This requires a licence to be granted by the Human Tissue Authority. The Human Tissue Act superseded the Anatomy Act 1832, which had been found by an independent commission to be inadequate on contemporary collection and use of human tissues, following the Alder Hey organs scandal. There was initially controversy over whether the exhibition needed a licence in compliance with the Anatomy Act 1984. But, after consideration by the Department of Health, it was found that the legislation had not been designed to relate to exhibitions like Body Worlds and so no licence was required. 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.Scotland
The Human Tissue Act 2006 – 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 Wellcome Trust, and the Museums Association.
United States
Various legislation has been proposed and enacted 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 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, former US Republican 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 amendment was not enacted during the 2007–2008 Congressional session.
California
California's proposed bill AB1519, sponsored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, tried to "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 have made California the first state to require such proof. It was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on 26 September 2008.