Human corpse to decompose on TV

Edit [Moderator]: Moved from Human Interest Stories to Medical News & Health.

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041104/80/f5ybf.html


LONDON (Reuters) - Channel 4 is seeking a terminally ill volunteer to donate their body after death so it can be filmed as it decomposes.


The Channel, which in 2002 broadcast the country's first public autopsy for 170 years, said the programme was being made in association with London's Science Museum and would be a unique experiment.


"We hope the experts can learn more about the processes involved and that the data collected by the project can help forensic pathologists in murder investigations," said Simon Andreae, head of science and education at the publicly funded Channel 4, on Thursday.


Richard Shepherd, president of the British Association in Forensic Medicine, will lead a team of scientists supervising the project.


The body will be held in a secret location while being filmed for the programme, provisionally titled "Dust to Dust."


It will be the first experiment of its kind in the country, where scientists currently use pig bodies to study rates and means of decomposition. Their research is used by police investigators to help determine the time of death when a body is found.