The front gate of the Body Farm
What is the Body Farm?
The Body Farm's official name it the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Research Facility. The name the "Body Farm" came from Patricia Cornwall's book by the same title which is set there. It was founded in 1980 by Dr. Bill Bass to study human decomposition (1). In his book called "Death's Acre" Dr. Bass talks about how he came up with the idea and place for the Body Farm after a janitor had the unpleasant experience of finding a very dead, smelly, bloated body in his closet were Dr. Bass had left it over the weekend until he could examine it. He decided that he needed a better place to examine dead bodies and do his research than in the basement offices underneath the UT football stadium. He and his research students have since done innumerable useful research projects on various methods of determining time since death, including analyzing chemicals given off by the body and what bugs come to feed off of dead bodies in what order (info from "Death's Acre" by Dr. Bill Bass). They do this by placing dead bodies in various positions, states of dress, and situations all over the Body Farm and observing what happens(1).
So what's the controversy?
The problem arises because many people believe that the research done there is disrespectful of the dead that are being used for the experiments. This is certainly a valid point as they are certainly not being laid out in their best clothing and allowed to decompose in peace in a nice wooden coffin. I can see why someone may have a problem with Uncle Bill being allowed to lie naked in the middle of a field and allowed to rot. As I said before the bodies are in various positions, essentially any position you may find a dead body including those that are generally associated with murder (shallow graves, under concrete, etc.) which I can see not sitting well with some people particularly if you have been raised to show great respect to the dead.
Why do I think it is necessary?
Despite the fact that I will admit I do find it somewhat gruesome ( I mean you are just letting people decompose and from what I hear from my aunt and grandmother who work at the hospital on campus which shares a parking lot with the Body Farm it does get quite smelly in the summer time) I think this is really a very necessary place to have.
Dr. Bill Bass
Knowing time since death based on how the bodies decompose can give you valuable information that can help you solve a case much more easily including identifying a suspect which according to my policing class is the most important factor in solving a case. Not to mention knowing how bodies decompose in certain situations can rule out certain causes of death not consistent with what is found. I also understand from reading various material about the Body Farm that the majority of the bodies at the Body Farm are donated by people after their deaths. If you choose to donate your body it is your choice and I think no one else should really be able to say anything about it. The few remaining ones that are not donated are bodies that were not claimed by families from the state penitentiary and the morgue ( I do feel a little uneasy about this as after the family and person do not really have a say in this).You do have to take into account respect for the dead when doing these experiments. This is something that must be considered in every aspect of forensic science as forensic scientists often work with the dead. When does respect for the dead trump science? At what point is the science just too much? Many people consider what Dr. Bass and his colleagues do desecration of the body. Other forensic scientists may run into this problem when needing to exhume a body to do further testing or when the family of a crime victim believes doing an autopsy will cause their loved one to be unable to go into the afterlife. As a forensic scientist, especially were the dead are concerned, you have to proceed very carefully so as not to end up on the bad side of this slightly grey area.
I think that unless the family strenuously objects, which isn't usually a problem as most of the cadavers used at the Body Farm are donated, science generally should take presidence with some case by case exceptions. I support this so much in fact that I would advocate the starting of body farms in other places in the U.S. After all Tennessee's climate is not the same as say North Dakota's and so bodies will decompose differently. If we really want to expand our knowledge we need to look at different climates. I may sound a bit callous to some people but I agree with Dr. Bass ( when talking about whether or not he will donate his body to the Body Farm) "it is a terrible thing to waste a good skeleton." The Body Farm is an important part of science and needs to be kept around for a good long time.
I remember watching a video on this a few years ago. The smell and decomposition of dead bodies in different situations are very unique and this place helps document this. It is a very strange concept and it is definitely not accepted by many people's ethical standards, but I feel that it can be used effectively and is still important to the field.
ReplyDeleteI figure that it has its time and place in research. After all it provides valuable forensic insight into potential future crime scenes. Though viewed as taboo by many, I believe that the rewards outweigh the risks. My only question would be how do they, at the Body Farm, procure the bodies to use in their facility?
ReplyDeleteMost of them are donated by people who want to donate their bodies to science.
DeleteI think that this situation can be related to the idea that med students dissect dead bodies as a part of there training, it is important to learn. This research can help solve murders and in some cases prevent the perpetrator from murdering again and that is important, and if you are donating your body to science then you know what you are getting yourself into.
ReplyDeleteThis is a highly valuable research field related to the medical and criminal areas. However, that professor may have wanted to proceed with the deceased body in a separate manner.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting and I agree that especially if they donated their bodies, they can be used to educate people. I personally don't care what happens to my body after I'm dead.
ReplyDelete