The Human Tissue Authority has confirmed that Body Worlds 4 has been granted a license to exhibit real dead bodies, but has avoided stringent UK tissue compliance checks because the bodies are 'imported from Germany'.

The 'display clause' of the Human Tissue Act has been invoked for the first time for the Body Worlds 4 corpse show, which opens at Manchester's Museum of Science (MoSI) on 22 February 2008. The new laws were brought in following the Alder Hay scandal and made the consent of the donor essential for the storage and display of bodies and body parts. 

Two loop-holes have been identified. Potentially these loop-holes will open the flood gates for other foreign entertainment companies to run dozens of corpse shows across the UK.

Referring to the license granted to MoSI and Body Worlds 4, Dr Shaun Griffin, Director of Communications at the Human Tissue Authority told the Diocese of Manchester: "In this case, the bodies have been imported from Germany, and the consent provisions of the HT Act therefore do not apply". The Authority also confirmed a second loop-hole saying: "In addition I can clarify that the consent provisions of the Act do not apply to 'existing holdings', in other words, any material held before the commencement of the Act (for this sector, 1 Sept 06) does not need consent (but does need to be stored on licensed premises)."

Human Tissues Act (2006)
The Human Tissue Act (2004) replaces the Human Tissue Act 1961, the Anatomy Act 1984 and the Human Organ Transplants Act 1989.  It aims to make consent a fundamental principle underpinning the use and storage of human tissue. It will be overseen by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), which will regulate the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue.

Public display is one of the Scheduled Purposes under the HT Act to which the consent provisions may apply and which constitutes in certain circumstances a
licensable activity. There does not appear to be a requirement to prove consent of donation  if the specimen was acquired before 1 September 2006.
PDA guidance on exhibitions. Here


The HTA have confirmed that they will license exhibitions of plastinated bodies or body parts but  the organisers would need to apply for an HTA licence. Licensing would require compliance with our Code of Practice 1 Consent and guidance on public display. Licensing applicants must complete a Compliance Report which contains standards that must be met (three standards specifically relate to requirements about consent). Therefore when issuing licences, consent procedures (in accordance with the HT Act) will be taken into account.

The Views of the HTA on exhibitions. Here

Summary of English law by the BBC. Here

On 7 June 2005 the BBC reported that Edinburgh City Council blocked his application for a Body Worlds show in 2003 on the grounds that some people could find it offensive.

Under Scottish law (the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill 2006), such exhibitions require a special licence to be staged in Scotland. The licence will only be granted for public displays "in the interests of teaching, studying, training or research".

This allows educational institutions such as the Surgeons' Hall Museum, owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, to continue to show anatomical specimens, while outlawing touring shows considered to be in bad taste.Ministers need to given approval and only specified persons and museums can apply.


HUMAN TISSUE (SCOTLAND) ACT 2006: The 2006 Act is supplemented by a number of Regulations and Orders, Section 6A(1) of the Act prohibits a person from publicly displaying an anatomical specimen, a body or part of a body which has been used for anatomical examination, or a body or part of a body which has been used out with Scotland for anatomical examination or examination which has the characteristics of anatomical examination.

Section 6A(3) to (8) of the Act provide for certain circumstances where that prohibition is disapplied. Those circumstances include a requirement that the display be authorised by a license granted by the Scottish Ministers under section 6A(9) of the Act. The persons specified in article 2 and the Schedule, responsible for the operation or control of the museums specified there, are not required to have such a public display.