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Environmental workers disposed of the specimens after faculty
members determined they were in poor condition for use in
research or as a teaching tool when they were received in the
1980s, the university said.
"We believe the workers disposed of between 40 and 60 jars, some
of which contained multiple human brains, and worked with a
biological waste contractor to do so safely," the university
said in a statement.
One of the missing brains was believed to be that of Charles
Whitman, a former Marine who killed 16 people and wounded dozens
in a campus shooting spree in 1966, but the university said it
had no evidence linking the specimens to Whitman.
The university received about 200 brain specimens from the
Austin State Hospital in the 1980s, a mental health institution,
and currently has about 100 in its collection, university
spokesman Gary Susswein said.
The specimens still in the collection are used for teaching to
give students a hands-on experience studying the human brain,
Susswein said.
They believe that about 100 specimens were disposed of, but are
still determining whether any went to other schools, Susswein
said.
The university is investigating the decision to dispose of some
specimens and is looking into how all of its brain specimens
have been handled, it said.
The Los Angeles Times previously reported that the brains had
been found at the University of Texas at San Antonio, but
officials in Austin said on Wednesday they had no evidence right
now that brain specimens were shared with other universities.
The university said it would continue to investigate the
decision to dispose of the brains and the handling of the
remaining specimens in the collection.
(Reporting by Lisa Maria Garza in Dallas and Eric M. Johnson in
Seattle; Editing by Louise Ireland and James Dalgleish)
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