Lawmakers Call for Congress to Probe Bodies Shows in Wake of '20/20' Report

Feb. 20, 2008— -- Click here to read an update on this story.

Lawmakers are calling for Congress to probe bodies shows in the wake of ABC News "20/20" report on the black market of bodies coming from China to be put on display across the United States.

"It has every mark of executions and abuse," said Congressman Christopher Smith, R-N.J., referring to Premier Exhibition's display of "unclaimed" bodies from China, cured in silicone and essentially turned into plastic through a process called "plastination."

"There is a due diligence that has to be done, particularly coming from a totalitarian dictatorship where execution of prisoners and a general lack of value for human life are paramount," said Smith, who has championed human rights issues in China for many years.

Smith said he will be issuing a formal request to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for a congressional hearing. "There needs to be a moratorium immediately. There is something very very wrong here."

He said he is writing a letter to the U.S. attorney general urging him to open an investigation into how the bodies shown on display are obtained.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has already begun a probe, and Premier Exhibitions said it would cooperate fully in the investigation. In a statement from its general counsel, Brian Wainger, Premier said, "We look forward to having a thorough investigation that will allow the facts to reveal themselves in an unbiased way."

The company said it does not use the bodies of executed prisoners on display and that the use of unclaimed bodies for education and research is a common practice in both America and China.

Arnie Geller, the chairman of Premier Exhibitions, told ABC News he was appalled at the allegations that some of the bodies from his Chinese suppliers might be those of executed prisoners.