[BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: "Bodies" exhibit corpses should be buried

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

I have to say that the Seattle City Council is going to have a hard time getting proof of informed consent from the dead...
 
Dennis Oomen
Kamloops Museum

--- On Fri, 1/7/11, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:


From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
Subject: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: "Bodies" exhibit corpses should be buried
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Received: Friday, January 7, 2011, 12:36 PM



Bodies exhibit corpses should be buried in 
Manitoba, minister told 
Mary Agnes Welch, Winnipeg Free Press, Friday, January 7, 2011 


The Manitoba government must decide whether an obscure law allows it to bar the Bodies exhibit from leaving the province and even gives it the power to bury the human specimens, who critics say may be Chinese political prisoners. 


In a letter sent Wednesday to Health Minister Theresa Oswald, Winnipeg human rights lawyer David Matas said the 1987 Anatomy Act obliges exhibit organizers to seek Oswald’s written permission before removing bodies from the province. 


The act applies to bodies meant for “anatomical or scientific instruction.” 


Matas said the legislation normally covers bodies donated to medical schools or scientists and is meant to ensure the cadavers are ultimately buried in a proper and dignified manner. 


But he believes the act also applies to the human specimens from Bodies…The Exhibition. 


“You should deny permission to remove the bodies displayed in Bodies…The Exhibition because the promoters of the exhibit do not have written consent from anyone authorized to give consent for the display of the bodies and are uncertain of their provenance,” wrote Matas. “In these circumstances, the bodies should be buried in 
Manitoba.” 


A spokesman for Oswald said the province is reviewing the legislation and Matas’s request, and will respond as soon as possible. 


Bodies… The Exhibition has drawn 100,000 Winnipeg visitors since it opened four months ago. 


The displays of preserved and dissected cadavers in lifelike poses has also drawn significant criticism from those who say there’s no proof the bodies aren’t those of Chinese political prisoners or members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is persecuted in China. 


The bodies are leased from the Chinese government, and the exhibit’s organizers have acknowledged they rely on information from Chinese authorities and can’t independently verify the origins of the specimens. 


Last fall, a University of Manitoba student group gathered 1,000 signatures on a petition asking city hall to shut the exhibit down before its Jan. 16 close. Matas supported that petition, but city hall said it did not have jurisdiction over the exhibit. 


“It wasn’t banned, but I think it should stop here,” said Matas in an interview Thursday. “There’s a reasonable possibility the sourcing of the bodies is improper.” 


Matas co-authored a report several years ago documenting the widespread and illegal harvesting and sale of organs from imprisoned Falun Gong members and said any specimens provided by the Chinese government ought to be suspect. 


A call late Thursday to Premier Exhibitions Inc., the Atlanta-based producer of the blockbuster touring show, was not returned. 


But Kevin Donnelly, senior vice-president of True North Sports & Entertainment, doubts whether the Anatomy Act was ever intended to apply to museum exhibits. And he said the show has opened in cities all over the country, adhering to community standards. 


“While (Matas) may not like the politics or the approach, it is meeting every measure of Canadian standards from coast to coast,” said Donnelly. 


Matas said he’d like to meet with Oswald or provincial health officials as soon as possible but declined to speculate on next steps if the province declines his request. 


The Anatomy Act: 
It governs how unclaimed bodies can be given to the University of Manitoba’s medical or dentistry students for anatomical study, what happens if a family member comes forward and how bodies must be buried after they’ve been studied. 


What it says: 
“No person shall take or send, or employ, authorize, cause, or permit, any other person to take or send, the body of a dead person obtained by him under this Act, or any part thereof, out of the province for anatomical or other scientific instruction or requirements, unless authorized in writing to do so by the minister.” 


“Upon receipt of a notice under subsection (1), the authority responsible for burial of unclaimed bodies of deceased persons shall take delivery of, and arrange for the proper burial of the body.” 


What other cities did: 
New York: Following an ABC News 20/20 investigation, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo succeeded in securing a disclaimer on the exhibit saying organizers could not verify the bodies aren’t those of Chinese prisoners. Any future exhibits must document the origins of each body, the cause of death and the deceased’s consent. 


Hawaii: The island state has banned all displays of cadavers for profit. 


Seattle: Last summer, Seattle city council effectively banned all Bodies-type exhibits that could not produce proof of informed consent from the dead, or from the dead’s next of kin. 


Pittsburgh: An 11-year employee of the Carnegie Science Center quit to protest the exhibit in 2007 and state politicians considered cutting funding to the museum. 


---   30   --- 
 
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----


_______________________________________________
BCMA mailing list
BCMA at lists.vvv.com
http://lists.vvv.com/mailman/listinfo/bcma


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vvv.com/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20110107/781783d4/attachment.htm