![]() ![]() In 2015 more people in this country were burned than put in the ground for the first time, according to a report by the National Funeral Directors Association. Proponents note that traditional cremation is trending upward in the U.S. And the California Catholic Conference is urging the state’s Senate to vote “no” on the latest legislation, concerned that alkaline hydrolysis “does not appear to respectfully treat human remains.” A second bill in 2013 for a pilot program in five funeral homes also failed to make it across the finish line. He now transports bodies across state lines, to Chicago, for the procedure.Ī 2010 bill to legalize alkaline hydrolysis in California failed, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, largely due to concerns over lack of data about how the liquid waste it creates might affect aging sewer pipes and employees’ health at crematoria-safety concerns that Fisher says he has addressed after years of testing with the City of Los Angeles. Consider the case of Edwards Funeral Service in Columbus, Ohio, which started offering alkaline hydrolysis in 2011: Owner Jeff Edwards dissolved 19 corpses before the Ohio Department of Health suddenly stopped granting permits for the process, and the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors accused him of “immoral or unprofessional conduct.” A messy legal battle left him with $150,000 worth of equipment that is gathering dust, he says. states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Wyoming.īut this means of final disposition crosses uncomfortable lines for some. If California approves the new death rite, it would join a club that includes parts of Canada and several U.S. “The science says this technology is safe and has environmental benefits,” Fisher says. The state Senate has until September 15 to consider the legislation, which has already sailed through California’s lower house with a vote of 71 to 3. He has been working with state legislators on a bill allowing funeral homes to use this process, called alkaline hydrolysis. But after five years and hundreds of bodies processed, Dean Fisher, director of the university’s Donated Body Program, hopes to change that. is the only place in California that liquefies the dead. The bones are then ground to dust and scattered into the sea two miles offshore, forming white rings that slowly float away into the Pacific Ocean. That’s how the University of California, Los Angeles, disposes of bodies donated to science: by dissolving the flesh off their bones. The powder he pours overboard is from corpses that have been “cremated”-not by fire, but by liquid. SAN DIEGO-Eight times a year a funeral director sets off by boat from Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base carrying about two dozen plastic bags filled with unusual human remains. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |