• Question: why do you use dead pigs in your work, why not any other animal? is there a specific reason?

    Asked by jaadehulley1997 to Jamie on 18 Mar 2011 in Categories: . This question was also asked by andrewbancroftx, claireborgartz, student14.
    • Photo: Jamie Pringle

      Jamie Pringle answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Hello all,

      We are not allowed to use humans in the UK because of the Human Tissue Act (2005).

      I use pigs instead as they are good human proxies; they have similar-sized organs and physical size, similar fat:muscle tissue ratios, skin and hair types. I can also source them from a local abattoir (they would be sausages otherwise) and get them all at the same age, weight and eaten the same food source.

      The latter is an important point as humans eat all sorts of things, and we degrade a lot differently, depending on a host of factors (local temperature, tissue volume). Also pigs may decompose a bit quicker than humans as, these days, there are so much preservatives in our foord, cadavers tend to decompose more slowly 🙂

      Other animals will be more different to ourselves basically.

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