THE IRISH Human Rights Commission will consider “as a matter of urgency”, ethical concerns about the exhibition of preserved human bodies in Dublin.
President of the rights body Dr Maurice Manning said yesterday he would visit the Bodies exhibition this week and bring it to the attention of commission members.
The commission will then decide what, if any, action to take. Mr Manning said they would consider the issue “as a matter of urgency”.
Fine Gael Dublin MEP Gay Mitchell had contacted Mr Manning about the exhibition.
Bodies, which opened last week at the Ambassador Theatre, is exhibiting preserved human bodies, all of them Chinese, with some showing exposed muscles, brains and organs.
In a statement at the weekend calling for the commission to look at ethical issues involved, Mr Mitchell asked: “How did these individuals die? Were their relatives informed or was permission sought for their loved ones to be displayed as art?”
Mr Mitchell called for the commission to “examine this exhibition to determine if it is ethical and in keeping with international human rights norms”.
According to the exhibition’s website bodiesdublin.com, all of the bodies were “obtained through the Dalian Medical University plastination laboratories in the People’s Republic of China”.
The exhibitors also state that the remains were from people who died from natural causes. “However, in a number of cases throughout the exhibition, our medical director [Dr Roy Glover, a retired professor of anatomy and cell biology from the University of Michigan] has been able to identify the obvious medical problems that the specimen suffered from, and, where appropriate, it is so indicated.”
Dr Glover had rejected suggestions that the bodies were illegally obtained and in media interviews said the bodies were unclaimed and unidentified. But Mr Mitchell, who described the exhibition as “garish”, said that while he could not be “judge and jury on this” there should be “some clarity on the source of the bodies”.
He added that “in China, what becomes fact is what the government says is fact”. Even if the bodies were unclaimed and unidentified “there have to be rules about this”.
In Ireland when people donate their bodies to universities and hospitals, the institutions must dispose of them in a respectful manner, within a certain timeframe, he said.
The Bodies exhibition has already toured cities in Europe as well as New York and Mexico City.
The exhibitors say that more than 200 organs and full body specimens are on display, “showcasing the complexity of the body’s many bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs”.
The bodies, “meticulously dissected”, are “preserved through an innovative process and respectfully presented, giving visitors the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems”.
