Recently, I have watched a very consternating documentary on body farms cultivated for scientific and forensic study purposes. The video runs for approximately forty-five minutes and is extremely graphic and distressing as announced by the commentator who warns viewers that the “scene isn’t for the screamish.” The body farm is a propriety of the University of Tennessee Medical center and stands on a two-acre-land (national geographic, 2014.)
Undoubtedly, the sight of worms, insects and flies coming out of every cavity of the darkening, swollen bodies and the final popping of the taut now all dark skin, is not a delight to the senses but what is more stressful, is how both the medical center, the families and the state miss the fact that such a “ Farm” in the open air is a real hazard to the whole population.
The bodies are tossed individually or stacked in piles in the open air. Moreover, most researchers do not wear protective equipment that can insure their safety and the safety of others.Theorists and scientists advance that the body farm is a valuable means for defining the cause, time and the scene of death. They also claim that the outcome of such studies might result in a great leap ahead for forensic sciences. Unfortunately, both common sense, science and research can only testify against the creators of the body farm projects.
Those types of studies should be run in closed space modern technologically wired laboratories where researchers and their staff strictly follow the standard precautions and wear all the necessary protective gear that is bound to prevent the spread of diseases and germs; not to mention an epidemic. Body examinations, autopsies and various histology studies accurately reveal the cause, the time and the duration of death. The claim that leaving bodies in the open air in different scenarios can yield better results on how different temperatures, clothing and the soil would allow to better solve mysterious crimes and deaths in different scenes is not corroborated. Modern technology can safely yield in better results in a more controlled study that does not endanger both people’s lives and the environment.
Mikey Doug