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

Tue Jan 11 13:57:19 PST 2011

Given the chemical process(es) the bodies have undergone burial may pose
additional problems with the disposal of hazardous substances....

Tracy Calogheros
The Exploration Place

________________________________

From: bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com] On
Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 3:46 PM
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: "Bodies" exhibit corpses should be
buried

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   --- 

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