Rally protests exhibition of cadavers in Cincinnati

2/4/2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Rally-protests-exhibition-of-cadavers-in-Cincinnati-2

    Protesters gather outside the Cincinnati Museum Center. The Cincinnati Archdiocese says the exhibition is inappropriate.
    • Visitor Michael Wiley views one of the cadavers at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Protesters fear the bodies, from China, could be those of torture victims or political prisoners.
    Visitor Michael Wiley views one of the cadavers at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Protesters fear the bodies, from China, could be those of torture victims or political prisoners.

    CINCINNATI - Pickets at the Museum Center in Cincinnati have joined the leader of Roman Catholics in southwest Ohio in protesting an exhibition of plasticized human cadavers.

    The exhibit uses 20 cadavers and 250 preserved body parts to show the inner workings of the human body. It is one of eight similar exhibits on tour, including displays in New York City, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and San Diego.

    Pickets outside the Museum Center at preview showings for teachers and physicians on Wednesday and Thursday said they feared the bodies could be those of political prisoners or torture victims.

    Protesters gather outside the Cincinnati Museum Center. The Cincinnati Archdiocese says the exhibition is inappropriate.
    Protesters gather outside the Cincinnati Museum Center. The Cincinnati Archdiocese says the exhibition is inappropriate.

    The head of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has told Catholic school administrators that the exhibit is inappropriate for school trips. He contends that although the use of bodies for scientific research and educational purposes is permissible, public exhibition of cadavers is a different matter, both unseemly and inappropriate.

    Exhibit designers say the specimens are unclaimed or unidentified bodies from a medical school laboratory in China and were obtained legally.