Jim Stauffer hoped that studies of his mother’s brain would help Alzheimer’s research (Picture: Reuters)

Human bodies that had been donated by their families for medical research were used in bomb simulations by the US army.

Biological Resource Centre (BRC), a company that claimed to donate bodies for research purposes, actually sold each body to the military for $5,893 (£4,800) each.

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They were then used to measure the damage caused by powerful improvised explosive devices, the likes of which soldiers could come across in war zones.

The families of people whose bodies were donated only learned the truth following an investigation by Reuters.


Jim Stauffer donated his mother Doris’ body to BRC, hoping that it might help in the search for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease.

They specifically requested her body was not used by the military (Picture: Reuters)

He signed a form authorising medical research, but also ticked a box prohibiting military or non-medical experiments.



Mr Stauffer received his mother’s cremated remains – but it turned out to be just her hand, which was amputated and then cremated.

The rest of her body was used in the military experiments.

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Mr Stauffer said: ‘It shocks me that the military was involved.’

Maria Yale watched her grandfather Kurt Hollstein sign the same form two months before he died of cancer.

But the Army veteran’s body was also used by the military without his consent.

Ms Yale said: ‘This is almost beyond belief that his entire body went somewhere else without his permission, and especially to a place that he absolutely did not want to be.

The family have only recently discovered the truth (Picture: Reuters)

‘To go to the Department of Defence is absolutely mind-boggling.’

Records show that at least 20 bodies were used in this way without the permission of families.

BRC is no longer in business, but former owner Stephen Gore, who pleaded guilty to fraud last year, claimed he sent consent forms whenever they were requested.

He said: ‘It is my belief that we did what we could to honour the donors’ consent as we understood it.’

Army officials said they never received the consent forms, and acted in good faith, according to Randy Coates, the engineer who directed the experiment.

He claimed the Army was a ‘victim’ of BRC’s practice.