Please find enclosed details for a debate that may be of interest.

The Institute of Ideas and the Royal Institution present:

Debate: Human Remains Objects to study or ancestors to bury?

Venue: Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1
Date: May 18, 2004
Time: 7-8.30pm
Tickets: Tickets cost £8, £5 for Ri Members and concessions.
Booking: Book on the Royal Institution website
<http://www.rigb.org/rimain/calendar/booktickets.jsp?&id=41> or call the
automated booking line on 020 7670 2985.

Museums and research institutions have always contained collections of
human remains, from ancient mummies to shrunken heads, which have told us
about patterns of evolution and the lives of past cultures. But ethical
battles now rage about 'who owns the bones'. A committee at the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport has recommended that the bones can be returned
to the country and culture of origin, and that institutions obtain consent
to work on the remains retained. And The Human Tissue Bill may make it
legally possible for museums to deaccession remains.

Are these bones really the property of long distant relatives, or the
scholarly responsibility of curators and scientists? Are museums and
scientific institutions surrendering invaluable artefacts and sacrificing
greater knowledge of humanity that we have a responsibility to honour?

Speakers
Alan Cooper, Director of the Henry Wellcome Ancient Biomolecules Centre
Maurice Davies deputy director of the Museums Association
Robert Foley director of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary
Studies, Cambridge
Tiffany Jenkins Institute of Ideas; author of the forthcoming IoI paper,
Human Remains: objects to study or ancestors to bury?