Commissioner Blasts 'Body Farm' Proposal's Handling

On the day before Tampa Bay area residents will get to learn more about the University of South Florida’s “body farm” proposal, one Hillsborough County commissioner is speaking out.

“I’ve learned of this initiative by a professor at USF in the newspapers at the same time as the constituents that I represent,” Commissioner Stacy White said in a statement. “I was shocked that this professor has apparently not engaged in dialogue with any local elected officials. How in the world would someone think people are going to react when they hear that a ‘body farm’ might be coming into the community? This is an ivory tower academia mindset at its finest.”

White’s District 4 encompasses south Hillsborough County, including Lithia, where the proposed Facility for Outdoor Experiment Research and Training (FORT) program would be operated. FORT is being pitched to provide a place for forensic science research and training.

The research facility would sit on 2 acres of county owned and controlled land at the Walter C. Heinrich Practical Training Center in Lithia. Bodies for the farm would come from USF’s After Life Body Donation Program to advance research in forensic anthropology and legal medicine, the county explained in a media release. The cadavers “planted” on the farm would be left exposed to the elements so they can be studied by researchers and law enforcement.

See Also:

• Venue Changed for ‘Body Farm’ Public Meeting

Outdoor facilities such as the one being pitched for Lithia are designed to help researchers and law enforcement better understand the changes in human remains that occur under different conditions. The county states the objectives for the facility are:

• To enable research in areas of forensic medicine, anthropology and physical sciences
• To provide a training location for outdoor crime scene methods involving human remains
• To enable the documentation and study of changes in human remains

“The forensic and scientific research conducted at the FORT would include performing simulated case studies for the medical and legal community, allowing graduate students to conduct independent studies relating to their research and offering advanced training to law enforcement throughout the state on how to process outdoor crime scenes involving human victims,” the county explained.

While similar programs are operating in states such as Colorado, Illinois, Maine and Texas, there is no similar research facility in subtropical Florida, where outdoor conditions can have dramatically different effects on human remains.

Dr. Erin Kimmerle, an associate professor of anthropology at USF, said having a facility in the Bay area is important because decomposition varies based on temperature, humidity, regional insects, water and other factors that set Florida apart from states where similar facilities are already in operation, the Tampa Bay Times quoted her as saying.

The facility is also hoped to help Bay area law enforcement and forensics experts better identify human remains to close the books cases involving missing people.

It is unclear at this time how soon the facility would become operational if it’s approved. Whether approval will actually come also remains to be seen.

“Other forensic anthropology research sites are on university property,” White said in the statement. “I think USF needs to go back to the drawing board and reconsider its proposed location.”

White, who is a pharmacist, said he isn’t discounting the value of such a research site. He’s just not pleased with its handling so far.

“It’s just that they’ve gotten off on the wrong foot with the Lithia community and I don’t know that the damage can be repaired at this point,” he said. “I support the idea conceptually and would love to see it appropriately established on university property.”

A public meeting on the topic takes place Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Pinecrest Elementary School, 7950 Lithia Pinecrest Road.

What are your thoughts on the proposal? Share them by commenting below!

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