Anita Manning's Glasgow Auction House Withdraws Human Remains from Sale After Ethics Criticism

Anita Manning's Glasgow-based Great Western Auctions has withdrawn human remains from a scheduled sale after being contacted by BBC Scotland News. The lot, valued between £500-£800, included human bones and a skull originally marked as belonging to a University of Glasgow anatomy class. Leading experts have condemned the planned auction as unethical and incompatible with proper treatment of human remains.

The Withdrawn Auction

The remains were due to be auctioned on Friday but were pulled from the sale following media inquiry. The bones arrived in a box with markings indicating they had been part of an anatomy class at the University of Glasgow. According to specialists, the human remains likely originated in India or China before being exported for use in educational institutions.

Expert Condemnation

Dr Lauren McIntyre, from the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, stated that commercial sales of human remains undermine the dignity of the deceased. She emphasised that most anatomical remains used in medical education stem from 20th-century mass exports from India and China, predominantly without consent from families or the deceased.

India banned the export of human skeletons in 1985 following government concerns about grave robbing and murder, though evidence suggests the trade has persisted. China enacted its own ban in 2008. Dr McIntyre noted that many remains currently offered for sale may be of relatively recent origin, raising serious questions about their acquisition and export.

Legal Status and Regulation

The United Kingdom does not prohibit the sale or auction of human remains provided they were not obtained illegally and are not intended for transplantation. However, the ethical implications have prompted widespread scrutiny. Prof Gordon Findlater, HM's Inspector of Anatomy, oversees licensing and regulation of anatomical services across the UK. The circumstances allowing the remains to enter auction are unclear, though possibilities range from historical borrowing by students to donations from medical professionals' families.