Anatomist, Dr. Gunther von Hagens Reiterates His Mission of Public Health Education to Press Corps in Guben, Germany.

GUBEN, November 29, 2006

Anatomist, Dr. Gunther von Hagens told a small gathering of reporters today that the PLASTINARIUM, the Plastination laboratory he recently established in Guben, Germany, and the presentation of the BODY WORLDS anatomical exhibition in Casino Royale, the latest James Bond film, are natural and inevitable extensions of his thirty year career as an anatomist and advocate of public health and public anatomy.

"Beyond its role as a powerful public health education program, BODY WORLDS is a cultural phenomena that has been seen by nearly 20 million people around the world. Plastination has allowed the admission of the post-mortal body into public consciousness for the first time,” Dr. von Hagens said.

In answer to reporters questions about the controversial nature of the PLASTINARIUM, Dr. von Hagens said:  "Bringing the post-mortal body into the public domain is viewed as a transgressive act only because death itself is controversial.”

Responding to a question about his reasons for making BODY WORLDS and the PLASTINARIUM accessible to the public, he said, “Throughout my career, I have promoted the democratization of anatomy, of demythologizing the body interior not just for the medical and scientific world, but for the general public.”  

When queried about his intentions beyond his stated mission of health education,
Dr. von Hagens replied:  “I wish to show that death is completely normal and that life is the exception.  I want people to judge for themselves, what the body is, where we come from, and where we are going. Death is an absence of the soul, and I believe that we must understand and know death in order to embrace life. It is my hope that when death is no longer hidden and its reality is embraced, people will ponder their individual actions.”

Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS, a series of three traveling public anatomical exhibitions, are collaboration between donor, anatomist, and visitor. Using Plastination, Dr. von Hagens’ groundbreaking invention of anatomical specimen preservation, deceased bodies bequeathed during their lifetime by donors registered with the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, are prepared for the BODY WORLDS exhibitions and the education of many.

BODY WORLDS  exhibitions, already seen by more than 20 million people in 35 cities across Europe, Asia and North America, are currently showing at science museums in Boston and St. Paul in the United States, and in Vancouver, Canada. A selection from the exhibitions appears in Casino Royale, the 21st film in the James Bond series.  
Dr. von Hagens recently established, PLASTINARIUM, a plastination laboratory in Guben, Germany.