John Cleese’s plan to sell bits of his colon on e-bay may fall afoul of regulations on the disposal of body parts.

After having a tooth extracted recently as part of some orthodontic work, my daughter asked the dentist if she might keep the tooth. The dentist turned dead white and recoiled in horror, as if the girl had asked for his firstborn, boiled and served with collard greens. Extracted teeth, we were told very sternly, must be PROPERLY DISPOSED OF according to STATE REGULATIONS, and MOST CERTAINLY MAY NOT be taken home.

And this was a perfectly healthy body part. I feel pretty sure that segments of diseased colon, in New York State at any rate, are not acceptable items of commerce.