IT'S been labelled a macabre freak show.

But, call it what you like, the organisers of a controversial exhibition of dead human bodies are celebrating after more than 4,500 visitors turned-up to view the world premiere of the Bodies Revealed exhibition at Blackpool's Winter Gardens this week.

The exhibition - which opened in the resort on Friday, August 6 - features 13 dissected cadavers, bottled foetuses and 200 human organs in glass cases.

Critics have already come out in force claiming the exhibition is unsuitable for a family resort.

But the American doctor behind the display, Dr Roy Glover, 63, has hit back saying he "wants to reach as many people as possible" and that tourist hotspot Blackpool is the ideal place to start.

Dr Glover said: "We are going to ask them to come and see it for themselves and then they can formulate their opinion about it."

"We are trying to appeal to the general public and by general public we have no one type of individual in mind."

Dr Glover admits people may be upset to see displays such as foetuses, a cirrhotic liver, and a cross-section of an ectopic pregnancy, but added: "We hope we upset them in all the right kinds of ways.

"We are basically displaying these bodies so people can understand there are consequences to the health choices they make."

As well as dissected bodies showing layers of muscles and bones, brains, blood and nervous systems and organs, the exhibition includes bottled foetuses aged up to 20 weeks, and shows diseased body parts, including a spine affected by osteoporosis.

The bodies are preserved using polymer preservation or 'plastination' whereby fat and water in body tissues are replaced with silicon, epoxy and polyester which harden, leaving a body dry, odourless and preserved.

Dr Glover - a specialist in the technique - has been using it for 15 years at the University of Michigan, where preserved bodies are used to teach medical students.

He now feels the public should be able to view preserved bodies too.

Dr Glover said: "The techniques are available, other professionals that need to be involved are available and are willing to take the risk, of the reaction and how people might respond.

"I think it's a risk that's well worth taking."

But he denies the exhibition is a 'sideshow'.

Dr Glover added: "Studying real bodies is far superior to using artificial models.

"No two bodies are identical - each is unique and fascinating.

"By looking at them, we want our visitors to better understand their own bodies and the potential health risks they face in everyday life," he said.

An exhibition spokesman said: "Blackpool is a community that drawn visitors from all over the UK.

"The purpose of the exhibition is to bring information about the workings of our bodies to a cross section of society. Blackpool is a wonderful place to do this."

Bodies Revealed is open daily in the Olympia building, Blackpool Winter Gardens, 10am-10pm until November 14. Tickets cost £10 per adult and £6 per child or senior citizen.