Chavez vs. Bodies Exhibition

The Chavez regime has started their case against Bodies exhibition, in this case Premier Exhibitions, or their Venezuelan agent, Evenpro. What is really funny is that it was the tax administration would confiscated the bodies, since their where brought by international courier. Now the Venezuelan Public Prosecuting office (Fiscalia Ministerio Publico) is pressing charges against the company. To this very moment they are investigating where did the bodies come from and have even considered to press criminal charges against the promoters. What is on Chavez mind is that this could easily be a way for black market homicide....Ugh! Chavez thinking like the crook that he know he is...

I personally find it amusing to exhibit for medical or scientific purposes the remains of humans who previously have given their informed consent. On contrast, my fathers opinion is that he finds it awful and does not think it should be exhibited.

However, their has been a past with this Bodies exhibition. Prior to the 2005 U.S. premiere of the Bodies exhibit, the Florida Attorney General expressed the opinion that the State Anatomical Board’s approval should be required. The Board fought the Tampa Bodies exhibit, with its director expressing the opinion that the exhibit should be shut down. Premiere Exhibitions officials disagreed, claiming that the Board had jurisdiction only over medical schools and not museums; the exhibit opened two days ahead of schedule at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry.

Questions regarding the origins of the bodies continue to be raised. In 2006, reporting from Dalian, China for the New York Times, David Barboza described "a ghastly new underground mini-industry" with "little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs." Premier representatives say "the bodies were not formally donated by people who agreed to be displayed." The director of the Anatomical Committee of the New York Associated Medical Schools (NYAMS) worries that "you have no documentation of who this is."

ABCNews' program 20/20 produced a major report exposing the "secret trade in Chinese bodies." Claiming that bodies are sold on the black market for $300, the report spawned not only a series of other articles but also a Congressional inquiry, an investigation by the NY Attorney General,and the resignation of Premier's CEO Arnie Geller.

On the front of their exhibition website reads a disclaimer describing the presumed origin of the bodies, and fetuses:

Disclaimer:

-This exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens or residents which were originally received by the Chinese Bureau of Police. The Chinese Bureau of Police may receive bodies from Chinese prisons. Premier cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons.

-This exhibit displays full body cadavers as well as human body parts, organs, fetuses and embryos that come from cadavers of Chinese citizens or residents. With respect to the human parts, organs, fetuses and embryos you are viewing, Premier relies solely on the representations of its Chinese partners and cannot independently verify that they do not belong to persons executed while incarcerated in Chinese prisons.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo concluded his investigation of Premier, finding "The grim reality is that Premier Exhibitions has profited from displaying the remains of individuals who may have been tortured and executed in China. Despite repeated denials, we now know that Premier itself cannot demonstrate the circumstances that led to the death of the individuals. Nor is Premier able to establish that these people consented to their remains being used in this manner. Respect for the dead and respect for the public requires that Premier do more than simply assure us that there is no reason for concern. This settlement is a start."

In June 2007, Elaine Catz quit her job of 11 years as science education coordinator for the Carnegie Museum of Science in protest over the exhibit, citing religious objections and questions regarding provenance, including the issue of reports of organ harvesting from Falun Gong in China.

In 2007, a Washington State bill was introduced to ban exhibits of bodies without clear documentation of consent, and a similar bill was introduced in January 2008 by California legislator Fiona Ma.

In June 2008 New York State passed a bill requiring anyone showing an exhibit that uses real human bodies in museums across New York to get a permit to show where exactly the bodies came from. Senator Jim Alesi sponsored the bill.

Professional ethicists, human rights activists and religious leaders have also objected. "Given the (Chinese) government's track record on the treatment of prisoners, I find this exhibit deeply problematic," said Sharon Hom, the executive director of the advocacy group Human Rights in China. Professor Anita L. Allen, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, argued spending money to "gawk" at human remains should raise serious concerns. Thomas Hibbs, Baylor University ethicist, compares cadaver displays to pornography in that they reduce the subject to "the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance." Even if consent were to be obtained, Rabbi Danny Schiff maintains that we should still question what providing "bodies arranged in showcases for a hungry public" says about a society.[29] Harry Wu, a long-time human rights activist, terms the practice of obtaining exhibit specimens from China "immoral" and describes how the Chinese label of 'unclaimed' on bodies may imply that families were not notified of the death.

Regarding the educational concerns around these exhibits, St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke directs Catholic Schools there to avoid field trips, citing serious questions for Catholics. Prior to the exhibit's opening in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese endorsed the educational content of the exhibition, while noting that it would not be appropriate for everyone and welcoming continued discourse regarding the place of such exhibits in society. Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, issued a statement: "I do not believe that this exhibit is an appropriate destination for field trips by our Catholic schools."

In 2006, citing concern over how "some kids will process these images," Abbotsford, British Columbia School Superintendent Des McKay barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings. In an editorial, Lutheran Reverend Christoph Reiners questioned the effect on the values of children. Elaine Catz, who helped coordinate field trips for the Carnegie Science Center prior to resigning in June 2007, maintains "it teaches that, once he is deceased, there is nothing wrong with taking a person's body without his consent; it teaches that there is nothing wrong with exploiting the dead in order to make a profit, as long as it is in the name of science or education or art. It teaches that it is incredibly easy to dehumanize others."

In 2009, after a week of presence in Venezuela, on march 4th the authocratic president Hugo Chavez confiscated the corpses, that will remain under his jurisdiction for undetermined time.