• Question: Do you like working with pigs, if so why?

    Asked by jack13 to Jamie on 18 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Jamie Pringle

      Jamie Pringle answered on 18 Mar 2011:

      Hello jack13,

      Not really but they are a really good human substitute.

      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 food, cadavers tend to decompose more slowly 🙂

      Other animals will be more different to ourselves basically.

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