Editing Body Worlds (section)

===Consent===
There have been several reports of corpses in the Body Worlds exhibit being prepared and shown without consent.<ref name="npr"/> In January 2004, the German news magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' reported, based on internal emails and records as well as statements from von Hagens, that his company had acquired corpses from executed Chinese prisoners.<ref name="spiegel">{{cite web |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-29725567.html |title=Händler des Todes |first1=Von Sven  |last1=Röbel |first2=Andreas |last2=Wassermann |date=January 19, 2004 |website=[[Der Spiegel]] |access-date=May 3, 2020}}</ref> In response to the article, von Hagens said that he has told his Chinese employees not to accept bodies that were executed, and returned seven cadavers to China that had head injuries, including at least two with bullet holes in the skull.<ref name="guardian"/> In 2004, von Hagens obtained an injunction against ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' for making the claims.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressemeldinger.no/read.asp?RecNo=15417 |title=Institute fur Plastination, Statement on Wrongful Allegations and False Reports by Media on the Origin of Bodies in Body Worlds Exhibitions, press release |publisher=Pressemeldinger.no |access-date=25 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111033803/http://www.pressemeldinger.no/read.asp?RecNo=15417 |archive-date=11 January 2009 }}</ref> Paul Harris, director of North Carolina's State Board of Funeral Services, has stated, "Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents... That's a reasonable standard to apply."<ref>[http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-02-28/winter-bodyexhibits/ Body exhibits titillate, but are they legal? – JSCMS] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224010254/http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-02-28/winter-bodyexhibits/ |date=24 February 2009 }}</ref> Assemblywoman [[Fiona Ma]] (D-San Francisco) said, "These displays do have important educational benefits, but using bodies against a person's will is unacceptable".<ref name="californiachronicle.com"/>

In 2002, two Russian doctors from the University of Novosibirsk were charged with illegally supplying von Hagens with 56 bodies, including convicts, homeless people, and mentally ill people, without consent from their relatives.<ref name="bbcrussia">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2140333.stm |title=Russians charged over body parts |date=July 20, 2002 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=May 3, 2020}}</ref> Von Hagens said that none of the body parts were used in the Body Worlds exhibitions.<ref name="bbcrussia"/> Bodies from the [[Kyrgyz State Medical Academy]] were also found to have been obtained illegally in 2005.<ref name="tribune">{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-07-31-0507310429-story.html |title=Shock Value |date=July 31, 2005 |website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=May 3, 2020}}</ref>

Consent is not regulated worldwide according to the same ethical standards, raising ethical concerns. "[P]aperwork is... separated from the bodies, which can be used for displays or sold in pieces to medical schools. No one will know for sure, because each plastinated corpse is made anonymous to protect its privacy."<ref name="npr"/> Hans Martin Sass, a philosophy professor with a speciality in ethics, was hired by the California Science Center to investigate ''Body Worlds'' before the show's US debut in 2004. He matched over 200 donation forms to death certificates, but he did not match the paperwork to specific bodies von Hagens has on display.<ref name="npr"/>