Legacy Matters

Skinned Cadaver Exhibit

The Florida Anatomical Board, which regulates the distribution of cadavers for research and education,  voted 4-2 against a proposed exhibit at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry because it was concerned that the exhibit did not show proper respect for dead bodies.

Despite the ban, the Museum opened its cadavar exhibit.

Premier Exhibitions of Atlanta, which organized the show, said it obtained the bodies and organs legally and without payment from a medical university in China. The Chinese government said the cadavers were unclaimed and unidentified bodies.

State Attorney General Charlie Crist on Friday wrote that because the purpose of "BODIES: The Exhibition" is educational, it was his opinion that the approval of the Anatomical Board is required.

So far no one is going to court, I don't know why.

BODIES: The Exhibition" features 20 cadavers and 260 other parts preserved with a process that replaces human tissue with silicone rubber. Skin is removed, exposing muscles, bones, organs, tendons, blood vessels and brains.

Tampa is to be the U.S. debut for the exhibit.

A similar human anatomy exhibit called "Body Worlds" is now showing in the United States and has drawn more than 15 million visitors since its debut in Tokyo in 1996. It has also drawn criticism from medical ethicists, however, and the condemnation of religious groups that claim it violates the sanctity of the human body.