After more than two years of assurances that the cadavers on display in a popular South Street Seaport exhibit were legally obtained in China, the company that runs the exhibit admitted on Thursday that it could not prove that the bodies were not those of prisoners who might have been tortured or executed. The company promised refunds to people who have seen the exhibit.
The admission was part of a settlement between Premier Exhibitions, the owner of “Bodies ... the Exhibition,” and the New York State attorney general’s office that was announced on Thursday. The settlement came after an investigation into the origin of the cadavers and body parts in the exhibit.
Under the terms of the settlement, the exhibit cannot obtain new bodies without documentation proving the individual’s identity, cause of death and consent for the body to be displayed, a requirement that may slow or end the importation of bodies from China.
Under the settlement, the exhibit must display, on its Web site and with a sign at the entrance, a statement explaining that it is not able to confirm that the bodies being displayed were not Chinese prisoners who may have been victims of torture and execution, the attorney general’s office said.
“Respect for the dead and respect for the public requires that Premier do more than simply assure us that there is no reason for concern,” Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said. “This settlement is a start.”
A lawyer for Premier said that the company’s independent investigation of the whole bodies on display found no signs of abuse. In cases where parts of a body are displayed, the condition of the rest of that cadaver is unknown, the lawyer said.
“They inspect and examine the specimens to look for any evidence of trauma or bodily injury associated with torture or execution,” said Brian Wainger, the lawyer. “They have never seen such evidence.”
Mr. Wainger said the company was looking into the feasibility of a program in which bodies would be donated from within the United States in the future.
The exhibit, which combines science and the macabre, opened in November 2005, and was originally to run for six months, but has been repeatedly extended.
The announcement comes after years of questions about the acquisition of the bodies used in this and similar exhibits across the country and worldwide. Human rights advocates here and elsewhere have said that the bodies could be those of political prisoners or mentally ill patients.
The bodies on display have undergone a process called plastination, in which the skin is removed and the bodily fluids drained and replaced with plastic that hardens. The bodies on display in New York were obtained from China in 2004, from the Dalian Medical University Plastination Company, according to a statement released under the settlement by both Premier and Mr. Cuomo’s office.
“There is no written record that any of those persons consented to the plastination and exhibition of their bodies,” the statement reads. “Rather, those bodies were unclaimed at death, collected by the Chinese Bureau of Police, and delivered to the Dalian Medical University and other universities in China for education and research.”
This month, 21 members of Congress, led by Representative Todd Akin, Republican of Missouri, signed on to a bill that would ban the importation of plastinated human remains
The exhibit was unchanged in the hours after the settlement was announced on Thursday morning. Most visitors said they would want to know that the subjects had consented to have their bodies displayed. Some, like Kathleen Bessette, 50, had even assumed that was the case.
“It’s so publicly displayed,” she said. “Well advertised.”
To others, the provenance of the bodies was more troubling. When an exhibit employee approached a class of Long Island City high school students to see if they had questions, the teacher, Anthony Lerro Jr., asked first where the bodies came from. The employee said, as the company has said in the past, that they were unclaimed specimens from China.
Afterward, Mr. Lerro said the issue was an important one. “Human rights are an issue when bodies are on display and there’s this real succinct response as to how they came to be here,” he said.
Other visitors said they had heard of the controversy, but that the questions surrounding the bodies’ origins did not stop them from attending.
“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” said Burl Sousa, 85, of Medford, Ore. “What difference does it make?”
Premier will set aside $50,000 for refunds. Adult admission on Thursday cost $28.72 with tax. The company can choose to pay further refunds, but is obligated only to the $50,000. Under the terms of the settlement, the offer expires in six months.
To claim a refund, visitors must send the company proof of purchase and a statement that they would not have attended had they known the bodies might have been those of prisoners.
Premier will also pay the attorney general’s office $15,000 as part of the settlement.
A nonprofit group that gathers information on forced labor camps and human rights violations in China, the Laogai Research Foundation, applauded the settlement. “We’re very pleased with the settlement and we think it’s going to do a lot to shed light on the origins of these bodies,” said Kirk Donahoe, assistant director. “Because of this settlement, it is now less likely that Premier and its competitors will obtain specimens from China for display not just in New York, but anywhere in the United States.”