Press Release
10/14/06
For Immediate Release
The Directors of the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson have filed a federal complaint Case No. 06-1490 in U.S. District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle on Oct. 13, 2006 against Premiere Exhibitions of Atlanta, Georgia regarding their exhibit of unconsenting cadavers. The complaint is based on the issue that the exhibitors do not have consent papers and the museum Directors feel the exhibitors are violating the U.S. Anatomical Gift Act which explicitly prohibits the sale of human tissue.
The complaint cited a statement by Dr. Lynn Romrell Ph.D. Executive Director of the Anatomical Board of the State of Florida in which he states the board rejected the same exhibit last based on no consent papers were obtained from the deceased and the city of San Francisco's ordinance prohibiting the display of human remains without authorization or consent after a similar type of exhibit was shown in San Francisco last year and enraged the Chinese community.
The Directors also stated they feel Premier Exhibitions is misleading the public by not stating in their advertisement the bodies are all unconsenting Chinese cadavers. The Directors believe visitors have the right to know the facts to decide for themselves as they believe the public would think twice about purchasing a ticket in which they would be viewing unconsenting bodies and furthering this type of trade of human body parts. Premier Exhibitions is a for profit company and is not a medical or educational institution.
The Directors assert that no U.S. physician has endorsed this exhibit. Dr. Roy Glover who is listed as “Chief Medical Advisor” for “Bodies: The Exhibition” is a retired professor of Anatomy from the Univ. of Michigan and has no known medical license.
The complaint requested an emergency injunctions to close the exhibit “until as such time as consent documents are produced for the cadavers as well as the identity of each cadavers for review by any medical institution and requesting parties and verified.” Also a stoppage of all advertisement showing cadavers and to initiate a full inquiry into the legality of this exhibit.
A Minute Order issued by Judge John C. Coughenour did not approve a request for an emergency injunction to stop the exhibit as the movant did not demonstrate “immediate and irreparable harm” but the directors were informed the complaint will be forwarded to a magistrate and is on permanent file with the courts.
Charlette LeFevre states she did not file the complaint on her behalf but rather the 21 cadavers now on display . As the cadavers identities are not known and requests for documents verifying their identities have been denied, it is impossible at this time to assess the harm and damage to themselves or their families. But given their country of origin - China and their customs of burying the body whole or they spiritually believe their souls will wonder the earth it is reasonable to believe these Chinese cadavers would not have wanted to have been displayed to the public and this would be hugely offensive to the families of the deceased.
The Directors of the Museum believe a formal complaint will encourage other institutions and persons to responsibly
review this exhibit and speak out on their position regarding the cadaver exhibit . The Directors encourage anyone who has already seen the show and if they were not informed of the consent nature of the cadavers in the exhibits advertisement and felt they were mislead, to ask for a refund.
For more information contact:
Charlette LeFevre or Philip Lipson
Directors, Seattle Museum of the Mysteries
623 Broadway E
Seattle, WA 98012
www.seattlechatclub.org
206-523-6348
206-328-6499
Press Release
10/14/06
For Immediate Release
I received the following message from Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson about their efforts to get the truth out about diplaying bodies to make a profit:
Septempber 30, 2006
Hi Aaron,
We got to the opening a bit late. I realize there isn't much support for a protest but I still think its an important International issue. There wasn't a crowd or long lines we saw two police officers hanging around outside.
I guess they thought there would be a big protest or something. (I wish)
This morning we posted some "no consent, no dignity, no bodies" flyers around the exhibit building on some light poles. We ran out of tape so we went across the street to Kinkos to get some more and when came back our postors had been taken down.
I asked the teenage door attendents who took down our flyers (as I know they were watching us) as I considered it violating my freedom of speech and they referred me to a guy inside and they didn't know his name. So we went inside and Brian Lambert came up who according to his ID is the Gen. Manger. (I don't think he thought anyone would call him on the floor about this).
He stated he had taken them down and he offered he had taken his poster down also. (I have a specualation the Seattle police officers saw this and asked him to take his poster down also if he was going to take down others). We then went outside to discuss this with the Seattle police officers who although were not assigned to this building "happened" to have been waiting around the front all morning for any incident calls. I told Lambert he was violating my freedom of speech as he knowingly took my flyers down and city ordinance does allow postering on public poles but he said he had just as much right to take them down and accused us wrongly of taking down his posters. Well I asked him to allow the flyers to stay up for one day and he wanted to make "a deal" that if they let them stay up for one day that we couldn't put up any more. I said no deals on my freedom of speech (like he is so arrogant as to make deals on our constituation rights) so we left to go put some more flyers up. He was such a jerk.
Anyway, a Seattle Times photographer came around and took our photos placing up flyers. Yeh, people were looking and made a few supportive comments.
Despite the fascination and promotions, unconsenting is unconsenting. I believe this violates our U.S. consent laws as outlined in the U.S. Anatomical Gift Act and our customs laws of import of human organs, marketing human remains across state lines without proper certification and bonding.
Apparently the exhibitors are taking a bit of offense at our flyers and removing them. I do believe its important for the public and parents to know what the exhibit is not stating - that these are all unconsenting Chinese bodies. There isn’t a single advertisement (not surprisingly) that states this fact as I think people really would reconsider buying a ticket. Is this false advertising? I keep asking myself if any U.S. Physcian can’t touch, sell, trade an unconsenting body or undonated organ why do we allow non-physicians with 21 unconsenting bodies to be exhibited ? Could this be viewed as forced prostitution?
http://law.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/organ-donation
The 1987 Unified Antatomical Gift Act explicitly prohibited the sale of human organs. Federal law expressly prohibits the sale of human tissue with the exception of blood, sperm, or human eggs.
Additionally, the 1984 National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) expressly forbids the selling of human organs across state lines. Premiere Exhibitions and VonHagen are exhibiting all over the U.S. in multiple states.
I don’t believe VonHagen or Premiere have been challenged before along these lines and we will be focusing on asking investigative agencies to inquire into this matter,
Oh, the Medical Examiner only did a visual (likely to get a free show) and did no testing for bacteria. How lame.
Keep up the good fight.
Charlette and Philip _________________________________________
Press Releaes 8/21/2006
Unidentified Chinese Cadavers
Be Afraid, be very afraid.
Seattle
will soon be receiving on Sept. 30 th across from the Washington State
Convention Center 21 cadavers embalmed in a plastination process and
admitted over 200 diseased body parts. So what is the controversy other
than a for profit corporation will be getting a high traffic, high
profile exhibit spot as opposed to a Seattle artist? These cadavers are
all Chinese and unconsenting.
Apparently Chinese believe in
burying their dead whole so its likely these bodies came from political
prisoners who ³happened² to have died suddenly in prison. A bit
disturbing giving the display of a family member cut open, naked and in
a phony pose is not something the Chinese would do. This is being put
on by the Seattle Theater Group and Premiere Exhibitions out of Atlanta
and is called "Bodies: The Exhibition".
The facts are nobody
knows who these cadavers are or what they died of and hence their
potential health risk to the public yet. Parents, be afraid. San
Francisco health officials in 2005 have studied leaking body fluids
from similar cadavers from China and identified the liquid as organic
material. ABC news crew in San Fancisco state they¹ve seen liquid
pooling under these open air cadavers they verified in their own lab as
liquified body fat. As a result of this similar cadaver exhibit and
public outcry they enacted an ordinace banning the display of human
remains without authorized consent. Ft. Lauderdale also said no to
these exhibits. So why is Seattle getting what San Francisco just
banned last year?
Because the promoters are being sneaky and
notified certain people weeks ago as a public outreach. It appears from
accredited news sources such as the New York Times, NPR and Forbes, and
numerous articles readily available on the internet these exhibits have
a way of sneaking into cities and using their visitor count and revenue
generation as justification for exhibiting cadavers. I¹ve contacted the
promoter Seattle Theater Group and all they say they have is a
signature from a physician in China saying everything is legal and the
identities are private and not for the public. This is side-stepping at
its best.
Ask yourself how can this be given we have strict
laws on the selling and recieving of body parts, customs, terrorism
laws and even fruit import? Not to mention biohazard risk this may pose
to the public from cadavers from a country known for SARS and Avian
Flu. Nobody yet in Seattle can seem to verify the identities of these
cadavers how they died or cause of death.
The Seattle Museum
of the Mysteries has forwarded an ordinance request to the entire
Seattle City Council to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the display of
human remains without authorization or consent, similar to what San
Francisco did in 2005. To date no response. In our opinion, this is an
afront to all our health and security measures not to mention a
cultural offense to anyone of Chinese background. I encourage people to
investigate this mystery as there is alot more information available
readily on the internet and call the promoters and see if you get any
satisfactory answers. They are after all implying this exhibit is safe
for the public and "educational".
Then call your officials,
your mayor, King County Dept. of Health and ask them why they are
allowing an exhibit of unidentified unconsenting naked cadavers in a
public exhibit space and selling tickets to kids as young as four?
Lets have some accountability here.
Press Release 8.21.06
for immediate release
The
Seattle Museum of the Mysteries condemns Premier Exhibitions and the
Seattle Theater Groups exhibit ³Bodies: The Exhibition² as a blatant
exploitation of cadavers for financial gain. The directors feel the
exhibit of over 21 cadavears which are displayed without consent of the
deceased is a gross disrespect of the dead and is a violation of basic
human rights and ethics. The directors state the exhibit shows no more
than what can be viewed at any medical school and is primarily
exhibited for shock value under the guise of an educational experience.
The directors feel Seattle has sunk to a new low by allowing the
exhibitors permits for this public exhibition given there may be health
hazards from these foreign cadavers despite preservation techniques.
The cadavers have no public verification of their origin and have a
history of leaking fluids. The directors feel this is analagous to
taking an unknown soldier, cutting him open, removing his skin and
exhibiting his naked body in a freak show open to children. The
directors feel this practice and exhbit is dehumanizing.
The
Seattle Museum of the Mysteries encourages the city to conduct an
ethical, legal and health review of this public exhibit before it is
allowed to open. The Seattle Museum of the Mysteries is a nonprofit
which talks respectfully about the dead everyday exhibiting the history
of Seattle and is a member of the Washington State Convention Center
and Visitors Bureau 2006.
Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson
Directors, Seattle Museum of the Mysteries
623 Broadway E Seattle, WA 98102
www.seattlechatclub.org 206-328-6499
end Press Release 8.21.06
Washington
State has two laws regarding human remains. The first one RCW 68.50.080
states a physcian can be used ³only for the promotion of anatomical
science ...and so as in no event to outrage the public feeling². There
is to date no known physcian in the State of Washington overseeing this
exhibit and another law RCW 68.50.140 making it a class C felony for
receiving body parts.
RCW 68.50.080 Certificate and bond before
receiving bodies. Every physician or surgeon before receiving the dead
body must give to the board or officer surrendering the same to him a
certificate from the medical society of the county in which he resides,
or if there is none, from the board of supervisors of the same, that he
is a fit person to receive such dead body. He must also give a bond
with two sureties, that each body so by him received will be used only
for the promotion of anatomical science, and that it will be used for
such purpose in this state only, and so as in no event to outrage the
public feeling.
RCW 68.50.080 Certificate and bond before
receiving bodies. Every physician or surgeon before receiving the dead
body must give to the board or officer surrendering the same to him a
certificate from the medical society of the county in which he resides,
or if there is none, from the board of supervisors of the same, that he
is a fit person to receive such dead body. He must also give a bond
with two sureties, that each body so by him received will be used only
for the promotion of anatomical science, and that it will be used for
such purpose in this state only, and so as in no event to outrage the
public feeling. [1891 c 123 § 3; RRS § 10028. Formerly RCW 68.08.080.]
RCW
68.50.140 Unlawful disturbance, removal, or sale of human remains ‹
Penalty. (1) Every person who shall remove human remains, or any part
thereof, from a grave, vault, or other place where the same has been
buried or deposited awaiting burial or cremation, without authority of
law, with intent to sell the same, or for the purpose of securing a
reward for its return, or for dissection, or from malice or wantonness,
is guilty of a class C felony.
(2) Every person who shall
purchase or receive, except for burial or cremation, human remains or
any part thereof, knowing that the same has been removed contrary to
the foregoing provisions, is guilty of a class C felony.
(3)
Every person who shall open a grave or other place of interment,
temporary or otherwise, or a building where human remains are placed,
with intent to sell or remove the casket, urn, or of any part thereof,
or anything attached thereto, or any vestment, or other article
interred, or intended to be interred with the human remains, is guilty
of a class C felony.
(4) Every person who removes, disinters, or
mutilates human remains from a place of interment, without authority of
law, is guilty of a class C felony. [2005 c 365 § 140; 2003 c 53 § 308;
1992 c 7 § 44; 1909 c 249 § 239; RRS § 2491. FORMER PART OF SECTION:
1943 c 247 § 25 now codified as RCW 68.50.145. Formerly RCW 68.08.140.]