Hi there, guys -- it's Erin here. This comment has nothing to do with Laos and everything to do with Gunther Von Hagens' Body Works 3 exhibit currently being staged at Science World here in Vancouver.

Yesterday, after hearing me express some interest going to the show, Jan told me some disturbing things about Von Hagen's plastination center in Dalian, China. He saud there were a number of allegations that the bodies Von Hagens used in his displays came from executed Chinese prisoners (i.e., very likely to be political or spiritual prisoners).

I was spurred to do some research this morning to verify what Jan had told me, and what I found left me deeply disturbed. Especially when I heard that the Body Works display includes fetuses still in the womb. What expecting mother would *think* to volunteer to donate her body AND that of her unborn child to someone who was going to put it on display for thousands of people to gawk at?

I am having a hard time keeping down food right now.

At any rate, based on my research, I've decided to send off the following letter to all local media outlets as well as Science World itself. I'll let you know if I get back any interesting replies...

It has recently come to my attention that Dr. Gunther Von Hagens, inventor of the plastination process used to preserve the bodies in the “Body Works 3” exhibit currently being held at Science World, has been accused of obtaining the bodies displayed in his exhibit through questionable means.

According to a 2004 article in the Guardian, Von Hagens was forced to admit that seven of the bodies displayed in a Body Works exhibit in London might have belonged to executed prisoners from China.

The article references email correspondence between Von Hagens and a Chinese employee in which the latter claims to have just obtained the bodies of a “young man and young woman” who were “fresh examples” of the “highest quality.”

They had both been killed by a shot to the head – a favourite method of execution employed by the Chinese government.

After this information became public, Von Hagens agreed to return seven plastinated corpses to China after admitting they may have come from executed prisoners. He went on to say that he’d instructed his Chinese staff not to accept bodies from executed prisoners.

But the fact remains that Von Hagens runs a plastination center in Dalian, China – close to three prison camps that hold significant numbers of political detainees and Falun Gong practitioners.

There is a growing body of evidence that the Chinese government has established a flourishing business selling the organs of executed prisoners, charging anywhere from US$30,000 for corneas to $170,000 for lungs. When questioned about this practice, Chinese officials have said the prisoners gave them “permission” to harvest their organs—which flies in the face of the reverence Chinese people traditionally hold for dead bodies.

But these are the same government officials who regularly spread lies about Falun Gong practitioners, saying they’re a bloodthirsty cult who persuade members to murder their own parents and babies – thereby justifying their policy of rounding up all known and suspected Falun Gong practitioners and sending them to prison camps like the ones close to Von Hagen’s plastination center.

In light of this, Von Hagen’s exhibit makes me extremely uncomfortable.

Maybe he did acquire the bodies for this exhibition through legitimate means. And maybe he really did have no idea that bodies obtained for earlier exhibitions belonged to executed prisoners – many of whom were no doubt imprisoned for displaying behavior that’s perfectly acceptable in our society, such as questioning government policies or – gasp! – doing exercises and meditating in an outdoor park.

But given the chance that this man has very likely reaped a profit (and may still be reaping a profit) from Chinese government’s outrageously inhumane treatment of political and spiritual prisoners, I am going to boycott the Body Works 3 exhibition and encourage everyone I know to do the same.

Sincerely, Erin Whalen    

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