Is seeing really believing?
Could the sight of the spongy surface of a lung, blotched and gray from years of inhaling cigarettes, convince a smoker to give up the habit? Could a smooth, sliced-open arterial tube next to three others clogged by plaque residue urge people to say no to French fries?
Gunther von Hagens definitely thinks so.
The German anatomist -- creator of the traveling cadaver show known as “Body Worlds,” now on exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles -- has attracted his share of attention through the years. He’s been questioned in Germany about the origin of the human bodies used in his exhibit. (He says they are documented, donated specimens.)
The British Assn. of Clinical Anatomists and the Anatomical Society of Great Britain balked at the lifelike poses his specimens strike. The organizations dismissed the exhibition as a spectacle, saying it might actually dissuade people from donating their bodies for medical research.
Perhaps most controversial was the televised autopsy that Von Hagens performed in London in 2002, in which the scientist ignored warnings from police, who said they would intervene. Von Hagens went ahead with the autopsy without incident.
Although much has been made of the more macabre aspects of Von Hagens’ background, he insists that the primary purpose of his anatomy exhibit is to promote health consciousness.
His intent, he says, is “to show how fragile human nature is so that we understand that it is worthwhile to change [our] lifestyle, to live healthier.”
The former doctor, nurse and ballroom dancer developed a method of preserving whole human bodies and organs by removing bodily fluids and fat. After a body is dehydrated, the fluids are replaced with reactive polymers, such as polyester or silicone rubber, that harden. It takes about a year to preserve an entire body. Dry and odorless, preserved bodies are exactly the same as they were before the process. Up close, tiny hairs and intricate vein mazes are entirely visible.
“I have to show the unexpected,” says Von Hagens, who decided to include both diseased and healthy organs in his exhibit because he believes that most anatomy exhibits show only robust ones -- and thus don’t deliver a powerful health message. The juxtaposition, he says, educates people about disease and pushes them to consider their own lifestyle choices.”
After its premiere in Osaka, Japan, in 1995, “Body Worlds” has traveled to 17 cities in Europe, Asia and, most recently, Los Angeles -- the show’s first city in the United States. It has been seen by an estimated 15 million people. The exhibit will run through January at the California Science Center.
According to exhibit planners, “Body Worlds” will travel to a second U.S. city, but the exact location and date have not been confirmed.
Using shock value to persuade people to change unhealthful behaviors is not a new tactic in the public health field. During the 1980s and ‘90s, health officials in California used tough antismoking advertisements that gave a grim picture of the consequences of the effects of tobacco use, including exposure to secondhand smoke.
But scare tactics alone aren’t always effective, says Lori Dorfman, a lecturer with UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group.
“You may have someone who goes to the exhibit and is moved and alarmed by what they see and is heavily addicted to tobacco,” she says.
But quitting smoking is a difficult undertaking that typically requires more than the fleeting feeling of resolve that may be prompted by a visit to the “Body Worlds” exhibit, she says.
There has been little controversy surrounding the L.A. exhibit, but before approving it, the museum formed an ethics committee, which concluded that the exhibit’s educational value far outweighed its potential sensationalism.
The Lutheran Church criticized a “Body Worlds” exhibit when it opened in Frankfurt early this year. In London, two visitors vandalized parts of an exhibit. Von Hagens was only permitted to open an exhibit in Munich last year after agreeing not to display some bodies that city officials considered to be too dramatically posed, including one posed like a fencer.
Von Hagens says he pays little attention to those who question his motives.
“I don’t see it as a kind of criticism that I am a showman of anatomy,” he says. “Of course I am. A successful teacher brings emotions to the people.”
Robert McCuskey, president of the American Assn. of Anatomists, said he had not seen the exhibit but was familiar with the controversy surrounding it.
“I think the public is well served to know something about their own bodies,” he says. “Whether this is the most appropriate way to educate them is the question.”
As of last week, more than 195,000 people had viewed “Body Worlds” at the Los Angeles museum since it opened in July. One Saturday this summer, the line to the exhibit curled out into the sunny atrium as grandmothers, children and people speaking several languages waited to enter.
Inside, Peter Covert, 43, of Covina stared at the rows of clogged arteries with his daughter Kirstyn, 16.
“I have high blood pressure, so the heart stuff, well, it makes you think about how important your body is,” he said in a husky voice. “Is it a vessel or just something you dump into?”
Kirstyn Covert peered at the arteries through thin-rimmed glasses.
“It definitely makes you think twice about the different things you put into your body,” she said. “It certainly grounds you.”
