Exhibit's 'Bodies' may be executed prisoners, ABC says

Thousands of visitors taking in "Bodies ... the Exhibition" at the Carnegie Science Center might have viewed executed Chinese prisoners whose remains were sold through an underground black market, according to an ABC News investigative report aired Friday night.

The report fanned flames of a long-running controversy about the show, which arrived in Pittsburgh after visiting New York, Las Vegas, Seattle and other locations. Organizers say it promotes science and education about the human body. Critics have called it immoral, macabre and exploitive.

"Plainly, if these are victims of abuse or worse, our participating in having this exhibit at the Science Center and going to see it makes us part of the chain of causations that encourage this type of abuse," said Rabbi Danny Schiff, community scholar at the Agency for Jewish Learning in Squirrel Hill.

Premier Exhibitions Inc. of Atlanta, which started the exhibit in 2004, has said the people died of natural causes and their bodies were unidentified or unclaimed before they were turned over to China's Dalian Medical University.

Findings presented in the ABC News program "20/20" have prompted authorities in China and New York to open investigations focusing on how Premier Exhibitions got the bodies displayed in Pittsburgh and other cities, the network reported. Premier told ABC it will cooperate with those investigations.

Carnegie Science Center officials reserved comment.

"We don't really have anything to say until we view that story," said Ann Metzger, the center's director of marketing. She said the center will comment on the issue today.

A spokeswoman for David M. Hillenbrand, president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and a member of the center's board, declined immediate comment.

The 15,000-square-foot exhibit is located in the center's UPMC SportsWorks building on the North Shore. Approximately 150,000 visitors have seen the show since it opened Oct. 8, Metzger said. The show includes about 200 body specimens and 15 full cadavers preserved with silicone rubber.

Patrons leaving the exhibit yesterday expressed doubts about the accusations raised by the "20/20" report.

"I don't really believe that. I think someone would have stopped them before it got this far," said Sherren Smith, 49, of Penn Hills, who described the show as "very, very educational."

Melissa Welling, 33, a nursing student who drove from East Liverpool, Ohio, to see the exhibit, also was dubious. "I don't condone executions, but at least they were put to some use (if that's true)," she added. "At least they didn't die in vain."

Elaine Catz of Squirrel Hill, the Science Center's former science education coordinator, said the news report might confirm "the worst-case scenario." After 11 years at the center, Catz resigned in June due to her objections to the show.

"I've protested the exhibit the entire time it's been here," Catz said. "The more I learned about this exhibit, the more I found to be questionable. The worst case is that the people were executed prisoners who were then used to make money, if that's indeed what they found."

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh earlier had neither condemned the exhibit nor encouraged people to visit it, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese.

"We took the position that it might not be appropriate for all audiences, especially elementary school children," although "the exhibition could provide worthwhile and effective educational opportunities," he said.

Lengwin said if the "20/20" allegations are proven, "the diocese will advise Catholics they should not attend this exhibit because of the human rights violations and a concern for the dignity of the human person."