Thanks! How fascinating!
Do skeletons and other "remains" collectibles come with a provenance? What sort of laws apply when selling skeletons? Do you have to produce some sort of "guarantee" that the skeleton got that way due to natural causes?
Sorry for the third degree, but I find this story (and your job) incredibly interesting for some reason
Bizarre! And to think people can BUY a human skeleton?@?!?! Is that even legal? In VA, there's laws about buying animals that have been mounted. I can't imagine.
Interesting question. I have read few month ago about the same topic (regulation, law and provenance of deceased bodies in US) due to different case here - (Embalmed head found in Pennsylvania -
PA - PA - Beaver Co., WhtFem Head UP13338, 40-80, embalmed, gray hair, Dec'14)
I have not located today article I read at that time, but here is one with similar details:
Each year, thousands of Americans donate their bodies in the belief they are contributing to science. In fact, many are also unwittingly contributing to commerce, their bodies traded as raw material in a largely unregulated national market.
Body brokers are also known as non-transplant tissue banks. They are distinct from the organ and tissue transplant industry, which the U.S. government closely regulates. Selling hearts, kidneys and tendons for transplant is illegal.
But no federal law governs the sale of cadavers or body parts for use in research or education. Few state laws provide any oversight whatsoever, and almost anyone, regardless of expertise, can dissect and sell human body parts.
“The current state of affairs is a free-for-all,”
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The industry’s business model hinges on access to a large supply of free bodies, which often come from the poor. In return for a body, brokers typically cremate a portion of the donor at no charge. By offering free cremation, some deathcare industry veterans say, brokers appeal to low-income families at their most vulnerable. Many have drained their savings paying for a loved one’s medical treatment and can’t afford a traditional funeral.
Few rules mean few consequences when bodies are mistreated.
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Despite the industry’s critically important role in medicine, no national registry of body brokers exists. Many can operate in near anonymity, quietly making deals to obtain cadavers and sell the parts.
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Reuters calculated that from 2011 through 2015, private brokers in 4 states (New York, Virginia, Oklahoma and Florida) received at least 50,000 bodies and distributed more than 182,000 body parts.
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As with other commodities, prices for bodies and body parts fluctuate with market conditions. Generally, a broker can sell a donated human body for about $3,000 to $5,000, though prices sometime top $10,000. But a broker will typically divide a cadaver into six parts to meet customer needs. Internal documents from seven brokers show a range of prices for body parts: $3,575 for a torso with legs; $500 for a head; $350 for a foot; $300 for a spine.
Quite scary read and I was not aware of any of this happening until the other case. Makes me think again about donating my body to science. Much more details and also examples of mispractices in the article
Special Report: In the market for human bodies, almost anyone can...