Use of Crash-test Corpses Defended

An ethics commission in Austria yesterday defended the use of human corpses as crash-test dummies.

A criminal investigation has been launched into research by the Technical University in Graz, after church leaders complained about experiments involving corpses.

The university tested 20 corpses from 1994 to 2003. The bodies were driven around a track and jerked to a halt. Prosecutors say that this may have broken laws preserving the dignity of the dead if the deceased or their relatives had not given permission.

The case came to light when the university ran out of bodies. An ethical commission at the Medical University in Graz, a separate institution that supplied the corpses, said yesterday there was nothing wrong with the experiments provided the families of the deceased had approved. However, a university spokeswoman said it was not clear whether the next of kin had given permission.

"The bodies weren't damaged or destroyed ... These weren't conventional crash tests against a wall but were motion studies carried out at speeds of just [9mph]. The purpose was to watch the movement of the vertebrae."

All bodies in Austria are seen as state property unless an exemption has been requested. The authorities are routinely allowed to remove organs. In some cases, the dead could be used without permission, if there was a humanitarian need.

The Graz university said its tests had "significantly" helped to raise car safety standards.