Bodies used in car crash research
An Austrian university is under investigation after it used corpses as part of research to develop better crash-test dummies.
Prosecutor Horst Sigl said authorities suspect that researchers at the Technical University of Graz might have violated the dignity of the dead by using bodies in tests.
“The core of the problem is whether those used in the tests or their relatives gave permission,” he said.
The researchers used 21 bodies provided by the Medical University in Graz for tests performed between 1994 and 2003, said Alice Senarclens de Grancy, a spokeswoman for the Technical University.
Anyone convicted in the case could face six months in prison or a fine, Sigl said, adding that the preliminary investigation likely would be finished in about a month.
Senarclens de Grancy rejected any suggestion that the dignity of the dead could have been disturbed in the tests, saying they were carried out under strict ethical standards.
“It’s not in any way a crash test as you might think about it,” she said. “There is no car, there is no wall.”
During the tests, the bodies were placed in seats that moved with speeds of about 9 mph before being stopped in an effort to simulate a rear-end collision. Scientists observed how the bodies’ vertebrae, upper bodies and backs moved.
Using real bodies was necessary to develop a “dummy which is very similar to the human body, which reacts as the human body does,” she said.
