---
title: "Body Worlds"
chunk: 2/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_Worlds"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:19:10.920928+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== France ===
In response to the Paris exhibition of Our Body: The Universe Within, two local human rights groups filed a legal complaint against the owner of the exhibit, Gunther Von Hagens. The groups' lawyer Richard Sedillot argued that the existence of exhibits profiting from the display of human bodies creates a supply demand to produce and traffick more bodies through ethically dubious means to supply the exhibits. Potential scenarios given by the lawyer included structural violence such as neglecting medical patients or incentising an increase in death row convictions in China. Sedillot stated "I am convinced that the exhibition is the last step in a horrible traffic [sic] operation of human bodies originating in China."
On Tuesday 21 April 2009, Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard ruled that exhibiting dead bodies for profit was a "violation of the respect owed to them". "Under the law, the proper place for corpses is in the cemetery". Raingeard ordered the exhibition to close within 24 hours or face a fine of €20,000 (over $26,000 USD) for each day it stayed open. The judge also ordered authorities to seize the 17 bodies on display and all of the organs on display from an unknown number of people for proper burial. Von Hagens issued a press statement denying any connection between the closed Chinese exhibition and his Body Worlds franchise. Similar exhibitions had already been successfully staged in Lyon and Marseille.

=== United Kingdom ===

==== England and Wales ====
The UK Parliament created legislation for exhibits of human remains, including plastinated bodies and body parts, in England and Wales under the Human Tissue Act 2004. This requires a licence to be granted by the Human Tissue Authority. The Human Tissue Act superseded the Anatomy Act 1832, which had been found by an independent commission (The Redfern Report) to be inadequate on contemporary collection and use of human tissues, following the Alder Hey organs scandal. There was initially controversy over whether the exhibition needed a licence in compliance with the Anatomy Act 1984. But, after consideration by the Department of Health, it was found that the legislation had not been designed to relate to exhibitions like Body Worlds and so no licence was required. In March 2008, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry was granted such a licence to hold Body Worlds 4 and a further licence was granted to the exhibition in the O2, London, in 2008.

==== Scotland ====
The Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 – which amended the Anatomy Act 1984 – covers Scotland. Under the terms of this Act, licences for the handling of human remains, including display, must be granted directly by the Scottish Ministry: "Subsection 9: If the Scottish Ministers think it desirable to do so in the interests of education, training or research, they may grant a license to a person to publicly display the body or, as the case may be, the part, and a person is authorized under this subsection to so display a body or a part of a body if, at the time of the display he is licensed under this subsection."
Various organizations gave evidence to the Scottish Executive during the consultation process, including the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Wellcome Trust, and the Museums Association.

=== United States ===
Various legislation has been proposed and enacted in different American states. Most proposals concentrate on issues regarding the sale of human remains and the consent of the donors.
National legislation on consent and tissue donation issues is expressed in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (2006) passed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws which states that "an anatomical gift of a donor's body or part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education", and prohibits trafficking in donated human organs for profit.
In early 2008, former US Republican Representative W. Todd Akin proposed an amendment to the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 to "make it unlawful for a person to import plastinated human remains into the United States." The President of the American Association of Anatomists has expressed concern that the scope of the act is "too broad" and that "Preventing importation of all plastinated specimens could severely restrict their use for medical education." The amendment was not enacted during the 2007–2008 Congressional session.

==== California ====
California's proposed bill AB1519 (Ma), sponsored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, tried to "require exhibitors to get a county permit; to do so, they would have to prove to county health officials that the people whose cadavers were on display—or their next of kin—had consented".
Assembly Bill 1519 would have made California the first state to require such proof. It was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on 26 September 2008.

==== Florida ====
The state of Florida prohibits the sale or purchase of human remains and "Authorizes certain science centers located in this state to transport plastinated bodies into, within, or out of this state and exhibit such bodies for the purpose of public education without the consent of this state's anatomical board if the science center notifies the board of any such transportation or exhibition, as well as the location and duration of any exhibition, at least 30 days before such transportation or exhibition". The Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville and the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa have hosted BODY WORLDS exhibitions. 