Science Questions

Does the UK have a 'body farm'?

In America they have some kind of body farm that researches dead bodies. Is there anything like this in the UK? I guess that tissue banks would fit that criteria wouldn’t they? John, Peterborough.

We put this to Professor Adrian Newland:

Adrian - Yes. I’m not aware of any body farms in the UK unless they are hidden away somewhere.

Chris - You’re not aware of any body farms in America?

Adrian - No I’m not aware of body farms in America actually. We do have a lot of tissue banks that certainly have been regulated following the human tissue act that came through. These are a very important resource if researchers want to have material to look at, either disease or to look at normal tissue. If you want to find out the cause of a particular sort of thyroid for instance, you can get them from the bank. You can get 30 samples and look at them.

November 2008