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Jun 21, 2007 8:20 pm US/Eastern
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Science Center Corpse Exhibit Stirs Controversy
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
A new exhibit is coming to the Carnegie Science Center this fall, and it's bringing with it much anticipation as well as controversy.
"Bodies ...The Exhibition" is a traveling exhibit from China that lets visitors see the human body. Fifteen full-bodied, human corpses make up the exhibit, along with 200 preserved organs and embryos. The bodies became part of the exhibit because they were unidentified or unclaimed at death.
Elaine Catz, who had worked at the Science Center for 11 years as an education coordinator, resigned recently because of this. "I couldn't live with myself if I knew a part of my paycheck was coming from this exhibit," she said. "There's no proof that the people in this exhibit were not political prisoners or executed prisoners."
Preserved through a process called plastination, the cadavers were stripped of their skins, and some were dissected or cut apart to show different systems like the blood vessels or muscles. They're arranged on display in various poses, with some looking like they are playing sports.
Ron Baille of the Science Center thinks the exhibit is a great learning opportunity. "In 35 years in education, I don't know if I'd ever had a more powerful experience than visiting that exhibit and seeing the human body, the real human body," he said.
According to the Science Center, more than 1,000 school students already are booked to see it. The exhibit begins Oct. 8 and runs until May 4.
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