'Bodies' exhibition accused of putting executed Chinese prisoners on show Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies-Revealed-exhibition-accused-putting-executed-Chinese-prisoners-show.html

By Christopher Leake
Last updated at 11:20 AM on 10th January 2010

The bodies of executed Chinese prisoners are being used in a ghoulish exhibition of ‘plastinated’ corpses, it was claimed last night.

Human rights activist Dr David Nicholl is demanding the Human Tissue Authority – which granted a licence for the Bodies Revealed show in Birmingham – should shut it down because it is a ‘crime scene’.

The controversial event is organised by US-based Premier Exhibitions, which insists all the cadavers came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science.

But Dr Nicholl, a consultant at Birmingham City Hospital, says he is convinced the body parts – preserved in polymer – come from executed Chinese prisoners or victims of torture.

He accused the organisers of taking ‘blood money’ by charging a £14 entrance fee for the show.

Dr Nicholl said: ‘We are asking a simple question – “Can you guarantee the bodies are not those of people executed in China?”.

'If the organisers are unable to answer this, then we think the authorities should be looking to close this exhibition.’

Last night, the British Liver Trust, a charity that fights liver disease, withdrew its previous support for the exhibition.

Chief executive Dr Alison Rogers said the organisers had not been able to give her an ‘unequivocal’ guarantee that the bodies had not been victims of execution or torture.

The Mail on Sunday has established that Premier Exhibitions provided the Human Tissue Authority with an affidavit, written in Chinese, which showed the bodies were from China.

One of the bodies from the Bodies Revealed exhibition in Birmingham

Premier has been mired in controversy since paying more than £15million for human remains from northern China in the mid-Nineties.

The Chinese suppliers had previously been accused of using the bodies of executed prisoners for commercial purposes.

The Human Tissue Authority said in line with its Code of Practice the exhibitors had to provide assurances that the bodies on display were donated for that purpose.

A spokesman said: ‘Our standards must be met while the bodies are in the UK. For example, the tissue must be treated with respect.’

A statement from the exhibitors said its suppliers had confirmed all of the bodies and organ specimens in Bodies Revealed came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science and are ‘deceased from natural causes’.

They said examinations of the specimens found no evidence of physical abuse.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies-Revealed-exhibition-accused-putting-executed-Chinese-prisoners-show.html#ixzz0cDqfRKua