I posted an article recently about the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the Museum of Science in Cambridge. I requested that people boycot the museum because of this exhibit. Since that posting, I have received more information about the exhibit. The people who are on display did request their bodies to be used in this way after they died.
Honestly, I searched the Museum of Science website and even e-mailed them asking about body donation at least 2 weeks before I made my previous post. I had received no response from the museum, so I assumed that the lack of information was telling. I had also searched the website of the creator of the exhibit. I looked under the "donations" link and also found a vauge statement. Nothing that specified that people signed statements giving authorization for their bodies to be plasticized after death. If I had known these things, I wouldn't have posted the negative review.
Since my initial research, the Museum of Science website has updated their information on the exhibit and provided more specific information. I also received a wonderful letter from the Vice President of Programs in the mail today. Here is just a portion of the letter.
It was critical to the Museum's decision to host this exhibit that we validated that all of the specimens in the exhibit came from individuals who made the decision while they were living to donate their bodies to the Institute for Plastination. Their donation was made with the express knowledge that their bodies would be featured in an educational exhibit.
So, please, disregard the post I previously made. I have deleted it from the site so that no one gets the wrong impression concerning this exhibit.
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