New idea
in mortuary science: Dissolving bodies with lye
CONCORD, N.H.
(AP) - Since they first walked the planet, humans have either
buried or burned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest
- dissolving bodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy
residue down the drain.
The process is
called alkaline hydrolysis and was developed in this country
16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses. It uses lye, 300-degree
heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies
in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure
cookers.
No funeral homes
in the U.S. - or anywhere else in the world, as far as the equipment
manufacturer knows - offer it. In fact, only two U.S. medical
centers use it on human bodies, and only on cadavers donated
for research.
But because of
its environmental advantages, some in the funeral industry say
it could someday rival burial and cremation.
"It's not
often that a truly game-changing technology comes along in the
funeral service," the newsletter Funeral Service Insider
said in September. But "we might have gotten a hold of one."
Getting the public
to accept a process that strikes some as ghastly may be the biggest
challenge. Psychopaths and dictators have used acid or lye to
torture or erase their victims, and legislation to make alkaline
hydrolysis available to the public in New York state was branded
"Hannibal Lecter's bill" in a play on the sponsor's
name - Sen. Kemp Hannon - and the movie character's sadism.
Alkaline hydrolysis
is legal in Minnesota and in New Hampshire, where a Manchester
funeral director is pushing to offer it. But he has yet to line
up the necessary regulatory approvals, and some New Hampshire
lawmakers want to repeal the little-noticed 2006 state law legalizing
it.
"We believe
this process, which enables a portion of human remains to be
flushed down a drain, to be undignified," said Patrick McGee,
a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.
State Rep. Barbara
French said she, for one, might choose alkaline hydrolysis.
"I'm getting
near that age and thought about cremation, but this is equally
as good and less of an environmental problem," the 81-year-old
lawmaker said. "It doesn't bother me any more than being
burned up. Cremation, you're burned up. I've thought about it,
but I'm dead."
In addition to
the liquid, the process leaves a dry bone residue similar in
appearance and volume to cremated remains. It could be returned
to the family in an urn or buried in a cemetery.
The coffee-colored
liquid has the consistency of motor oil and a strong ammonia
smell. But proponents say it is sterile and can, in most cases,
be safely poured down the drain, provided the operation has the
necessary permits.
Alkaline hydrolysis
doesn't take up as much space in cemeteries as burial. And the
process could ease concerns about crematorium emissions, including
carbon dioxide as well as mercury from silver dental fillings.
The University
of Florida in Gainesville and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.,
have used alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of cadavers since the
mid-1990s and 2005, respectively.
Brad Crain, president
of BioSafe Engineering, the Brownsburg, Ind., company that makes
the steel cylinders, estimated 40 to 50 other facilities use
them on human medical waste, animal carcasses or both. The users
include veterinary schools, universities, pharmaceutical companies
and the U.S. government.
Liquid waste
from cadavers goes down the drain at the both the Mayo Clinic
and the University of Florida, as does the liquid residue from
human tissue and animal carcasses at alkaline hydrolysis sites
elsewhere.
Manchester funeral
director Chad Corbin wants to operate a $300,000 cylinder in
New Hampshire. He said that an alkaline hydrolysis operation
is more expensive to set up than a crematorium but that he would
charge customers about as much as he would for cremation.
George Carlson,
an industrial-waste manager for the New Hampshire Department
of Environmental Services, said things the public might find
more troubling routinely flow into sewage treatment plants in
the U.S. all the time. That includes blood and spillover embalming
fluid from funeral homes.
The department
issued a permit to Corbin last year, but he let the deal on the
property fall through because of delays in getting the other
necessary permits. Now he must go through the process all over
again, and there is gathering resistance. But he said he is undeterred.
"I don't
not know how long it will take," he said recently, "but
eventually it will happen."
On the Net:
http://www.biosafeengineering.com/tissue/features.html
http://www.resomation.com/index.html
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