A human rights group is calling on Canadian authorities to investigate the possible use of executed Chinese prisoners in an exhibition of ‘plastinated’ corpses.

A human rights group is calling on Canadian authorities to investigate the possible use of executed Chinese prisoners in an exhibition of ‘plastinated’ corpses. 

Bodies Revealed, an exhibition open in Niagara Falls, contains 20 preserved full human bodies, displayed in various positions, as well as 200 specimens of body parts. The specimens are preserved using a technique know as ‘plastination’, in which water and fat from the body are replaced with reactive resins and polymers.

Choose Humanity, a group that aims to draw attention to human rights abuses in China, claims that the bodies may come from Chinese prisons without individual consent. “We’re concerned that the presenter of these exhibitions does not have any form of consent whatsoever to show these bodies,” said Joel Chipkar, spokesman for Choose Humanity. “If these bodies do not have consent to be shown, these bodies are being shown illegally in Canada.”

Premier Exhibitions, the owners of the exhibition, offered no response to the complaint.   

However, a disclaimer on their website confirms the remains are from Chinese citizens or residents “originally received” by Chinese 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,” the disclaimer states. “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.”

Joel Etienne, a lawyer representing Choose Humanity, believes there may be a criminal offence related to causing an indignity to a body. He has requested that an inquiry be conducted and that authorities stop the bodies from leaving Canada. 

Executed prisoners may be part of spooky body exhibition
Xavier Symons
https://www.bioedge.org/images/2008images/bodies-revealed-exhibit.jpg
Creative commons
Canada
China
human dignity
plastination

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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

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