Outrage in China over 'body-processing' factory

Outrage is growing over a factory processing dead bodies in northeast China for a German company that puts them on display in major European cities, state media says.


blech!

So who exactly is outraged the chinese or the europeans? The article said the bodies are imported to China so it isn't like they are using their own dead. It is an interesting use for dead people, better I think then burning them or letting them rot in the ground. I'd go check out an exhibit.

Next time I complain about my job would somebody kindly tell me to shut up. I could work in a body processing/plastination factory.

Yeah, it's a little bit dangerous to commoditize dead bodies. I was talking with the owner of the Bone Room (www.boneroom.com) and he told me that in India, some families were knocking off grandma for the few dollars they could get for her skull.

Years ago, there was a big outrage when it was discovered that BMW was using cadavers in crash tests.

On the other hand, I think it's fantastic art, and as long as the supply is much greater than the demand, I think it's OK. Art, automotive safety, and medical research are all good for the public.

I dunno what the Chinese's beef (so to speak) is, but I'd be a little put out about the first world once again exporting their grusome and upleasant tasks to the third. Sure I see the merits here, but really, theres a reason they resinate corpses in China. Europeans (and us, franky) are all too cool with the "art" but lets face it, if you actually tried to make it here they'd shut you down in a nanosecond.

If you read up on it (www.bodyworlds.com) and have some knowledge of academia and current events, you can see that there are very rational forces making this work occur in China.

China is trying really hard to be a world power, and part of that means developing and attracting scientific prestige. Look at their recent efforts with their space program. So the medical school in Dalien finds the work of Gunther von Hagens, who invented plastination, interesting. They want to attract his talent, so they found an institute for plastination at the school. He comes to teach there. A private institute called Plastination City is formed to make the plastinated corpses for exhibit. According to the press kit, it takes 1500 hours of work to plastinate a person, so certainly you'll do it somewhere that labor is cheap.

I have a feeling that the western world will fall behind the cutting edge in medical research because the east will put development ahead of religion/morality/ethics. Not that I find anything wrong with what is being done. The aim is teaching, but some of it blurs the line with art. All bodies are donated. They've even set up a program so you can donate your body specifically for this.

That is fucking cool. I want to be in a plastininated when I die so I can be in an exhibit riding a horse like that.

I just read that von Hagens is planning an open house at the factory in China every year.

Anyone want to go on a date?

I don't see a problem with it so long as people are donating their *own* bodies, in the same way as people donate themselves to organ donation or medical research. While I think it would be cool to be immortalized sitting on a horse night-of-the-living-dead-style for the shock and horror of wide-eyed tourists, if they're going to sit some bitch on the horse behind me, I better have liked her in real life, or at least she better have been hot, cuz I am going to have to spend a long time with her. And I would have to insist on getting credit for "corpse donated by" in the exhibit credits...

You know the doctor who was quoted in that article said that corpses should be used for research purposes not commercialized but it's sort of funny because we all know where that research intends to go. Straight to the bank daddyo. I can see it now, "New wonder drug made from grandma's fresh corspe. Just like grandma used to make." But because there is a step between the research and marketting it's ok RIGHT? RIGHT?

It wasn't so much that they were using cadavers as they were using cadavers of children. At one point in time crash tests were done with cadavers and the data from those test was used to develop modern crash dummies. BMW was trying to gather data for more accurate children dummies.

I've seen it, when it was in London, it is absolutly amazing up close, and yes really creepy too.