but the process its self is not that "unusual" eating a placenta does have MANY benifits more so for te mother..
This is what I was thinking- what on earth is he rocking up to work with a placenta for? Shouldn't he have steamed it up at home for the mother to eat? Sounds like a rather self centred man.

I don't really see the problem with observing a placenta in a science class. No need to eat one in front of your students though. But for connection to our bodies it seems like a nice idea to have one, better than dissecting dead rats.