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Turtlewax agency plasters Manchester with corpses
Launch of the debate
Bishop of Manchester opens debate
The Bishop of Manchester has written to organisers of the Manchester based corpse show 'Body Worlds 4', asking them to face up to their responsibilities when the show has its world premier at the Manchester Museum of Industry and Science on February 22.
For the first time in the UK, a publicly funded museum (MoSI) is to host a show featuring the work of controversial anatomist Dr von Hagens. The corpse show, which is expected to take £8 million at the box office during its four month run, features over 200 body parts along with dozens of whole dead bodies stripped of their skins, sliced, preserved, and 'baked' into a series of arranged poses which include activities depicting dancing, playing football and the playing of musical instruments. Similar shows have also included a woman who is eight months pregnant with her stomach sliced open to reveal her baby, a preserved young child and a man riding a horse holding his brains in his hands.
The church is very concerned that there will be a reduction in organ donors who see commercial public anatomy displays as a betrayal of medical trust. There is also concern for staff welfare and the marketing of the show as a 'family day out' by offering free entry to the under 5s. There are fears that MoSI may have used a legal loop-hole to open the controversial show; similar shows have been banned in Scotland. In his letter, the Bishop has suggested how MoSI should take action on all these concerns. The Church has set up a website www.CorpseShow.info to help inform the public and allow people to express concern by signing a Downing Street approved petition.
Reduced organ donations
Von Hagens insists his Body Worlds shows and public autopsies increase whole body donations to science. This is disputed by the Chief Medical Officer. The increase in donations he refers to are made by people who donate their body only to his private company as they leave the Body Worlds show. In a letter sent to Mr Tony Hill, MoSI Acting Director, the Bishop said, "In the UK, organ donation, or donating bodies to science, is based on public trust in the medical profession and a belief that any tissue donated will be respected or used appropriately. There is evidence that corpse shows undermine public confidence. In Scotland the shows are banned and in May 2007 the Chief Medical Officer highlighted Dr von Hagens' previous public anatomy work as having an effect on whole body donations."
The Bishop has asked MoSI to supply visitors with NHS donor cards and not the Body Worlds cards, which he says robs NHS medical schools of donations. He is also asking the museum to make a percentage donation from box office takings (estimated to be £8 million) to the University of Manchester to counter the loss in public confidence by funding a legitimate body donation campaign for their medical school.
A family day out?
Commenting on the marketing of the show to children the Bishop said; "With public funding comes responsibility and accountability. I have great concern for the spiritual welfare of two groups of people. I see from your website that you are marketing Body Worlds 4 to families with an offer that those under 5 get in free. The previous exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry was Dr Who which provided a chance for families to have some fun while learning about science. Is this little shop of horrors that has entered Manchester really a family day out?"
The Bishop has asked MoSI to put a warning on their website for parents, to review the under 5's 'free entry' policy and, just like a horror at the cinema, raise the entry age to 18.
Staff welfare?
The Church also has concern for staff. Universities employ councillors to help students who have to work with corpses. The Bishop has asked the Museum to confirm that they are giving staff an opt-out from working in the exhibition area. This might be on grounds of religious faith, or because they have suffered bereavement, or because they believe working with such exhibits for the next four months may damage them psychologically.
The legal loop-hole?
The Human Tissue Act (2004) makes it unlawful to use bodies or other human material for purposes other than that for which the patient gave consent. In their guidance notes, the Human Tissue Authority has confirmed that it will license exhibitions of preserved bodies or body parts, but the organisers would need to apply for a license. On first reading, there seems to be a loop-hole in this relatively new law: there does not appear to be a requirement to prove consent of donation if the specimen was acquired before 1 September 2006.
With similar shows banned in Scotland, the Bishop has asked MoSI to confirm that they have not used an apparent loop-hole in the law.
Freedom of information act to expose corpse show secrets
Given the recent government initiative to increase UK organ donations there is concern that a publicly funded museum has agreed to accept such a show. As a publicly funded institution, members of the public and the media have an opportunity to examine how the decision to host the show was made by using the Freedom of Information Act. This allows, for the first time, an opportunity for society to view the workings of the corpse show industry.
How to sell corpse shows to the public
An investigation into the £250 million industry by the Church has revealed that the companies behind corpse shows, with their main production line processing plants in China, have been arguing among themselves for number of years on the practices of their own industry. They have accused each other of acquiring the bodies of mental patients, prisoners and unclaimed bodies, of using body parts from other collections, perfecting techniques on corpses of questionable origin, displaying parts without specific consent and stealing each other's designs.
Corpse shows have origins in the now, long-banned, Victorian freak show. Modern versions of the corpse show have used a decade of marketing to make them acceptable to a modern audience. When Body Worlds first arrived in the UK in 2002, it was presented as an 'artistic' exhibition but panned by the critics. Now it is has been transformed, re-branded and marketed as a science exhibition, presumably to counter any moral objections. Five years ago, Body Worlds was held in a private art gallery, however, this is the first time in the UK that a publicly funded museum has hosted a corpse show with substantial revenue expected.
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