Medical specialists at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) are calling for an exhibition featuring 200 human organs and 20 preserved bodies to be banned on ethical grounds.

Organisers of the ‘Real Bodies - The Exhibition’, have sourced the preserved bodies and organs from China but don’t have consent documents and identification papers to confirm the origins of the deceased.

“The organisers are displaying bodies and organs that haven’t been documented and they don’t have written consent to use this anatomy, after the person has died,” said Professor Ian Kerridge, Chair of the RACP Ethics Committee, haematologist and bone marrow transplant physician.

“As medical specialists we support public education about health, illness and the body but satisfying basic ethical norms and respect for a deceased person must be paramount.

“Until organisers can prove these bodies and organs have been ethically sourced and have adequate donor consent, we think the exhibition should be shut down.”

In a recent letter to state and federal ministers, the RACP said the exhibition is in breach of NSW health regulations that require public display of donor consent forms.

Real Bodies is currently showing at Byron Kennedy Hall in the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park, Sydney.

The exhibition has been banned by several countries and cities on ethical grounds including Israel, France, Hawaii and Seattle.