GHOULISH exhibitions of human corpses and body parts will be banned in Scotland amid fears that they are discouraging people from donating their bodies to medical science.

Doctors blame exhibitions such as Body Worlds by the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens for causing alarm among would-be donors, who fear their bodies or organs could be put on public display.

Two years ago, von Hagens displayed two skinned corpses in Edinburgh as part of a fringe festival event. Von Hagens’ show attracted almost a million visitors in London and is currently touring America, it has raised £45m.

A similar exhibition, Bodies Revealed, which was held in Blackpool last year, has prompted similar accusations of bad taste.

However, under new rules contained in the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill, due to come into force next year, such exhibitions would require a special licence to be staged in Scotland.

Ministers would only grant licences for public displays “in the interests of teaching, studying, training or research”.

This would allow educational institutions such as the Surgeons’ Hall Museum, owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, to continue to show anatomical specimens while outlawing ghoulish touring shows.

The move has been welcomed by Professor Sue Black, head of anatomy and forensic anthropology at the University of Dundee, who said she was aware of potential donors who had decided not to donate their body to a Scottish university after learning of the von Hagens exhibition.

“These spectacles — because that is what they are — do not in any way reflect what happens in an anatomy department.

“Unfortunately, people say, ‘If that is what happens to my remains, I don’t want to bequeath them.’ That results in a shortage of cadavers for educational purposes,” she said.

Donated bodies are a vital part of medical study, allowing student doctors to develop their knowledge of anatomy and surgical techniques.

Black said there was widespread confusion about how bodies donated to medical institutions could be used. Current legislation ensures corpses or organs cannot be used in Body Worlds-style exhibitions.

However, Dr Roy Glover, who organised the Bodies Reveal exhibition, denied public displays of human bodies and body parts are little more than a sideshow.

He said his display in Blackpool, which included 13 whole bodies, offered “immense” educational benefits by deepening people’s understanding of how disease affects human organs.

The Wellcome Trust, an independent research-funding charity, also criticised the clampdown on public displays. “We recognise the need to regulate this activity to ensure that those personally affected and the public generally are protected from harm or offence,” said a spokesman. “However, we see no reason to deny the public any prospect of access to displays featuring human bodies.”

Von Hagens, who developed a plastination technique in which the body fluids of corpses are replaced by a solid plastic, said: “This reaction is based rather on prejudice than on clear cut facts. The claim that Body Worlds exhibitions are discouraging donors from agreeing to give their bodies to science is wrong. The opposite is true and proven.”

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