Chinese Activist Harry Wu in Cincinnati to Discuss
BODIES: The Exhibition and Human Rights in China
Tuesday May 13, 2008   5:00-7:00pm
University of Cincinnati, Tangeman University Center, Main Street Cinema

Leading China critic and Human Rights activist Harry Wu will address the Cincinnati community from 5:00pm -7:00pm on Tuesday May 13th at the University of Cincinnati.  He will address the controversy surrounding the BODIES: The Exhibition display at the Cincinnati Museum Center and other China human rights issues. 

Harry Wu spent 19 years incarcerated by the Chinese government in the Laogai--the "Bamboo Gulag"--as a political prisoner.  In 12 different labor camps Wu was forced to manufacture chemicals, mine coal, build roads, and plant crops. He survived beatings, torture, and starvation, and witnessed the death of many of his fellow prisoners. After his release in 1979, Wu moved to the United States determined to expose the truth about the Laogai - the most extensive forced labor system in the world. He has repeatedly risked his life returning to China to document slavery and human rights abuses.

Sponsors of the lecture include
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati: Catholic Social Action Office
Cincinnati Human Relations Commission
Japanese American Citizens League Cincinnati Chapter
Peace Village
University of Cincinnati Just Community

Missouri Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) has introduced a Federal bill which would regulate the importation of plastinated bodies.  These bodies are at the heart of the controversial Bodies the Exhibition that is currently being shown at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Bodies the Exhibition uses "unclaimed bodies" from China in its exhibit.  The bodies are used without the consent of the individual or the family.  Questions have been raised by ABC's 20/20 about the source of these bodies and whether or not they may have been purchased on the black market.

From ABCnews.com: 'Bodies' CEO Resigns After '20/20' Report

The CEO of a company that runs a controversial exhibit of "plasticized" Chinese bodies, Premier Exhibitions, has resigned, according to an SEC filing by the company.

Arnie Geller submitted his resignation in March, weeks after a "20/20" report on the company's practices triggered an inquiry by the New York attorney general's office. The company, which never announced the change in management in a press release according to a review of its Web site, said Geller's resignation was not connected to the questions raised about the human bodies or to Geller's appearance on "20/20."

UPDATE: As a commenter on this blog pointed out, that Bruce Eskowitz was actually appointed CEO in September 1, 2007.  This can be seen in the Form 8-K filed by Premier Exhibitions.

As I was driving to work, I noticed on the video screen billboard that the Cincinnati Reds are now offering "all you can eat" seats for Reds games. 

From the Cincinnati Reds website

The AYCE seats include unlimited ballpark fare - hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts and Pepsi products - all for one low price!

A seat in the AYCE section is $30.00.  With a Pepsi and a hot dog each at $4.00, and a mezzanine seat at $22.00, you'll save money if you want to eat more than one hot dog and a Pepsi.

But there are a couple of downsides:
1. Hot Dogs at Great American Ballpark are pretty terrible- totally flavorless.  They're not even worth a dollar on the "dollar dog" days.
2. Sitting with and watching people that have no respect for their bodies stuffing themselves with ballpark food.

Alcohol is not included.

Facts and Myths about BODIES: The Exhibition

MYTH: These people donated their bodies freely to science.
FACT: These are unclaimed bodies of real people. These people DID NOT consent to having their bodies used after their death. They DID NOT KNOW their bodies were going to be dissected and exhibited for profit.

MYTH: These people died of natural causes.
FACT: These people are all individuals who appear to be young, fit, and have died in the prime of their lives. Natural cause deaths would lead you to find older bodies, with certain characteristics spinal curvature, etc. that would reflect their age.

Myth: These bodies were obtained from a medical university in China.
FACT: There is NO medical school associated with the back alley shop processing these bodies for exhibition. Nobody will certify, nor provide documents, that these are not executed political prisoners, which is most likely the source in China. Political prisoners are people who may disagree with the views of the government or are persecuted for practicing their religion, be it Muslim, Christianity, Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhism etc.

Myth: These bodies were obtained legally.
FACT: The New York Attorney General, and US Customs are investigating the importation of the these bodies. There is reason to believe Premier Exhibitions intentionally misled customs officials on shipping documents. These real bodies were labeled by Premier Exhibitions on their customs documents as "plastic models for medical training." Both claims, as pertains to this exhibit, are false.

Myth: The exhibit is scientific and educational.
FACT: The education director for the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh resigned under protest of this display in her facility. Any aspect of the human experience could be called educational. Indeed the human body and its parts are beautiful and wondrous. Can we suspend our ethics for the sake of education? If these were all black people, or all Jewish, or unclaimed remains from Katrina, the descriptor "educational" would not even be considered. The truth is, this exhibit is a huge money maker for the Museum Center and Premier Exhibitions.

FACT: The Cincinnati Museum Center wants to sell this as an "educational experience" to Cincinnati. This same show is in Las Vegas, and shopping malls in other cities, marketed as entertainment. Ohio Magazine has ads for this exhibit with the byline: "All for fun... fun for all!"

Myth: Every city has received this exhibit well.
FACT: The city of San Francisco banned this exhibit. Legislation was introduced in Washington state to do the same. Protest movements have risen in every city where this exhibit has travelled in a growing national movement against these type of Body exhibits.

FACT: The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has urged their schools to boycott the exhibit.
FACT: Premier Exhibitions made $30 million off these dead people, and are to make millions more in Cincinnati.
FACT: These are REAL people...
FACT: These are REAL people who did not know their bodies were going to be used in this way.
FACT: These are REAL people who did not know they were going to be dissected and shown for profit.
FACT: These are REAL people who did not have free choice of what happened to their remains.
FACT: These REAL people DO NOT HAVE A VOICE in what is happening to them now.

Stop the Advertising
If you're not happy seeing a corpse on billboards, tv, or newspapers, let them know.   If they don't hear from you they think it's ok.

Television Commercials

Fox Channel 19
19 Broadcast Plaza
635 West 7th Street
Cincinnati, OH   45203
Phone: (513) 421-1919

WCPO Channel 9
1720 Gilbert Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-721-9900

Time Warner
President and CEO
Glenn A. Britt  
P.O. Box 740466
Cincinnati, Ohio  45274-0466

If you have seen the ads on other channels, please let me know.

Cincinnati Enquirer
312 Elm St.
Cincinnati OH 45202
513-768-8000

Electronic and non-electronic Billboards by Norton Outdoor
Norton Outdoor Advertising
5280 Kennedy Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45213
Phone: (513) 631-4864
Fax: (513) 631-4676

I have spoken with Mike Norton and he said that they're "monitoring" the situation.  He expressed first amendment rights for advertising.  Even if you choose not to visit the exhibit, you are forced to see these signs if you drive up and down 71 and 75 as you enter the city.  Please write them a letter and ask them to take the sign down.

From ABCNews.com: Lawmakers Call for Congress to Probe Bodies Shows in Wake of '20/20' Report

"There is a due diligence that has to be done, particularly coming from a totalitarian dictatorship where execution of prisoners and a general lack of value for human life are paramount," said Smith, who has championed human rights issues in China for many years.

Smith said he will be issuing a formal request to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for a congressional hearing. "There needs to be a moratorium immediately. There is something very very wrong here."

I think the 20/20 investigation has raised a lot of questions in regards to where these bodies are coming from.  Premier Exhibitions says they get them legally, but they never provide any documentation or paper trail to show that these bodies are obtained.  The investigation raises the possibility that the bodies could contain political prisoners purchased off the black market.  Premier Exhibitions just issues press releases but has little transparency.  Only the government can force them to testify and to show any documentation they may have.

Other issues the 20/20 investigation raises which is that the bodies are brought through customs not as cadavers, but as "plastic models for educational display".  This circumvents all the laws regarding transportation of corpses.  How are they able to turn a human body from a corpse into a piece of property?

This should be interesting if Congress opens their own investigation.

10AM-12 Noon Protest at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
 
We'll meet out in front of the museum in the area where the fountains are.  I have lots of signs, but feel free to express your own feelings.  My own feelings lie primarily around consent and human dignity.  If something else moves you, bring your own sign!

Watch the 20/20 Episode tonight at 10:00PM and then join us at the Museum to protest the Bodies the Exhibition. From what I have seen from the 20/20 Episode, it's a shocker!

Boycott Bodies the Exhibition Website

UPDATE: For the latest news, please visit Boycott Bodies the Exhibition

Summary: ABC News 20/20 report states that Premier Exhibitions, the company producing the Bodies the Exhibition currently shown at Museum Center may be using executed prisoners.  New York's Attorney General has opened an investigation.  Subpoena's have been issued today.

From Kansas City Star: More questions raised about origins of bodies on exhibit

However, the focus of the "20/20" report, airing at 9 tonight on KMBC-TV, is on discoveries that Ross made during a recent visit to China. In an interview Thursday, Ross said that university officials in Dalian told him that, contrary to Premier's assertions, they were not the sole supplier of cadavers to "Bodies: The Exhibition." That show is Premier's highest-profile anatomical exhibition and has just begun a seven-month run at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

"We found in fact they don't come from the university but from a company on the outskirts of town in a series of ramshackle warehouses on a dirt road," Ross said. "It's run by somebody who's a professor at the university, but it's not the business of the university. The question is, where does he get the bodies?"

Ross said he visited the compound briefly, before officials ejected him and his crew, and interviewed a former employee who said that at least a third of the cadavers he processed were bodies of executed prisoners. That's an allegation human rights groups have made about anatomical traveling shows and one that Premier has repeatedly denied. In 2006, Arnie Geller, the CEO of Premier, told The New York Times, "We traced the whole process. None of these would be executed prisoners."

Ross said that's what a Premier official told him, too. But he said the ex-employee is certain of the corpses' provenance, "because he was involved in going around China picking them up.

From WCPO Channel 9 Cincinnati 11:00PM 2/14/08 News:
"The Bodies exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center has drawn thousands of curious visitors since it opened this month but a new ABC investigation reports an underground black market is providing the bodies."

From Good Morning America 7:30AM 2/15/08
New York Attorney General is probing Premier Exhibitions and has issues subpoenas today.

From ABCNews.com: Exclusive: Secret Trade in Chinese Bodies

In an interview to be aired Friday on the ABC News program "20/20," Dr. Gunther von Hagens also says an underground black market is providing bodies to Chinese companies that export them to the U.S. and Europe, despite a 2006 Chinese law prohibiting the export of human bodies for commercial purposes.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the allegations.

Von Hagens says he had to cremate several bodies he received in China after detecting injuries that led him to suspect they had been executed prisoners.

"There is now no way for me any more to work with specimens in China," said von Hagens, who says his company in China now only deals with animal specimens.