Plastic People

[vhrocker]

People are now so obsessed with achieving instant fame that they will do anything to put themselves on display - including being sliced up and infused with plastic.

So far 7500 Americans have donated their bodies for "plastination", a process in which body fluids are replaced by liquid plastic. The plastic hardens, leaving tissues intact and allowing bodies to be sliced up and displayed in their natural colour and without formaldehyde.

The fad has been encouraged by the exhibition The Amazing Human Body, which is touring Australia. More than 22 million people in 35 cities have visited the exhibit since it was first shown, in Japan in 1995, and 7652 people have agreed to donate their bodies, of whom 461 have since died and been put on display.

One woman said one reason she decided to donate her body was because she did not want to spend thousands of dollars on a funeral. "My family can go to Tahiti for the price of a funeral," she said. "Why celebrate me in a box when they can go out and have fun?"

About 30 years ago she was diagnosed with endometriosis, a condition in which tissue from the uterus lining grows outside the uterus, causing painful cysts. She says people might learn about the disease if her tissue is preserved and displayed.

Would you want to end up like this?

[muffdiver]

I've held some boobs that felt like plastic...Seemed ok with me at the time..

[smithjc]

Hate to break it to you, but a lot of things seem good to you for some reason.

This whole idea is kinda out there. If they like it more power to 'em but it's a bit much for me.

[muffdiver]

I kid,I kid...

[muffdiver]

There's a lotta good things out there...."get busy livin' or get busy dyin"


Doesn't get any easier than that, fukin' A.....

(in my best Morgan Freeman voice)

[Wickett]

One of the same exhibits is in Dallas as well. I've heard cool things about it, but haven't made it out yet..

Looks something like this..



http://www.natureandscience.org/body...astination.asp

[G3fan]