The Journal

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Opinion/Editorial

The Body Worlds III exhibit opens Oct. 19 at the St. Louis Science Center, bringing with it not only a unique educational opportunity, but also a storm of controversy. Although many people believe that Body Worlds is disrespectful, morbid, traumatizing or even ungodly, the primary focus of the exhibit is to educate. These views do nothing but dampen what would otherwise be a wonderful learning opportunity.

Created by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the man who patented the plastination process that allows the bodies to be preserved and displayed, Body Worlds uses real human bodies with the skin removed and posed to show people what the inside of their own body looks like.

Each display emphasizes different systems and organs. Some displays feature organs and systems afflicted with different conditions and diseases, such as cancer. Some viewers, upon seeing the damaged lung of a smoker, leave a cigarette at the exhibit as a sign that they have given up smoking. Other exhibits are more artistic in nature and show the bodies in various athletic or academic pursuits, such as fencing, playing chess or playing basketball.

The Body Worlds exhibits have faced a great deal of scrutiny and legal harassment in the past. In Germany, home of von Hagens, the exhibit faced so many problems from local governments that he announced it would be leaving the country for good in 2004. From its inception in 1995, Body Worlds has been accused of using bodies of people who have not given their consent to be displayed, including executed Chinese prisoners. Several commissions, such as the one formed by the California Science Center, have proven these accusations untrue, but rumors still persist despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Body Worlds is not disrespectful to the dead. All of the bodies appearing in the exhibit were donated by people who gave their informed consent to be a part of Body Worlds. If they didn't have a problem appearing in these exhibits, no one else should be offended for them. It was their choice.

People don't go to Body Worlds just for the morbid purpose of seeing a dead body. Polls conducted by Professor Earnst D. Lantermann of the University of Kassel, Germany, at the showings of the Body Worlds 2 exhibit, have shown that approximately 59 percent of people going to see Body Worlds are interested only in seeing the beauty of the intricate workings of the human form, and 65 percent of people visit the displays because they are interested in seeing how their own bodies work. There is nothing morbid about either of these motives.

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