Over the last several months, resomation and cremation have been hot topics in our local media (no pun intended). In case you have missed the debate, a local Manchester funeral director wants to be the first funeral home in the country to commercially offer resomation. Resomation, otherwise known as alkaline hydrolysis, is a process that uses high pressure heated water and acid to reduce the body to calcium phosphate. Resomation is being touted nationwide as an eco-friendly alternatve to cremation and has been referred to as bio-cremation. It seems like anything that is perceived to be eco-friendly automatically gets the green light. And this was initially the case with resomation. The NH Statehouse approved the resomation process and was going to regulate it as a form of cremation. But the State Senate recently reversed the decision and decided that resomation has not place in New Hampshire.
Do I agree with the decision? Yes and No. While I have been interviewed on NH Public Radio, WMUR and have been quoted in the Union Leader, Concord Monitor and in several funeral service trade magazines about my opposition to resomation as a eco-friendly alternative to cremation, I am not opposed to an individual’s right to be able to select resomation as a option if they so desire.
My major problem with this entire issue is the fact that resomation was initially going to be regulated by the State just like cremation. And the resomation process was already being marketed as a form of cremation that was better for the environment. However, the resomation process has very few similarities to the cremation process. I am also not convinced that resomation has any more or less impact on the environment than cremation. While the resomation process has no airborn emissions, there is a significant electrical demand to heat the water. In NH, a good percentage of our electricity is generated by coal burning plants. So, one needs to take a look at the entire resomation process from beginning to end to determine it’s true environmental impact.
You know my opinion on resomation but what is yours.
Tags: alkaline hyrdrolysis, burial options, Cremation, funeral alternatives, Resomation
The thought of a vat filled with liquid human remains sounds anything but eco-friendly. These remains that will be floating down water pipes will surely bring about a rise in the bottled water industry. Cremation does not impact the general population; it affects no one. The thought of resomation makes me boil.
Shirley
I think the Senate made the right decision. Something about this just didn’t seem right to me – and it certainly doesn’t sound eco-friendly!
I find the concept of resomation to be disgusting!
I am an independent FD who has witnessed the RESOMATION process and the description provided above is incorrect and misleading. The comments you carry are uninformative. No true objection, the author in particular, has been clearly voiced save individual emotional reactions. This entire presentation appears very much to be a nice PR hit piece by crematory operators. What’s that,Phaneuf Funeral Home and CREMATORIUM? That is called a vested interest and the pre-need cremation sales may become an very un-green thing to do.
I own Resomation Ltd and as you know Mr.Phaneuf I have sent an open invitation to you by e-mail in the past to come and see the process at Mayo Clinic. You have not replied yet still you feel empowered to comment on the process in a very authoritative manner. Why? All those funeral directors who have done their proper due diligence and actually taken time out to understand the process by visiting Mayo think it is fantastic including many in senior roles in the industry.The Cremation Society in the UK has just changed their 134 year old constitution to allow their members to adopt it and ALL industry bodies in the UK (Cremation Society,ICCM,FBCA,NAFD,SAIF)are behind the process and in unison said so at a special meeting to the Ministry of Justice who regulates the law for the industry.Resomation also had an independent Environmental Analysis comissioned by a major client and all our environmental claims have been validated as correct. Go see the unit and talk to me….then you can say what you like based on facts. eg it uses up to 10 times less energy than a cremator and it is gas NOT electricity as you state.It use around the same electricty as the cremator and significantly less gas and has up to 20 times less CO2 produced not to mention no Merury emissions or dioxins.
I would like to comment on green burials. The University of Tennesee in Knoxville has an anthroplogy program headed up by Dr. Bill Bass. Dr. Bass is the leading forensic anthropologist in the country,and in 1981 he started the first human decay research facility. He studies human decomposition in a natural enviroment and I highly recomend the book Body Farm. An alternative to a “green burial” would be to donate your body to this cause. Although you may not be buried it would certainly be green.
I recently attended a program on resomation and find the process facinating. The end result is the same as cremation, where you are left with bone fragments to be processed and placed in an urn. It seems like a green way of disposition where there are no emmissions. Know you say the resomation process requires electicity to heat up the water/steam generated by our coal plants but a retort requires a lot of electricity to run the blowers and air controls for several hours during the cremation process plus it has C02 and mercury emmissions out of the stacks. I think the state of NH should put resomation back on the books and make legal once again. Give our citizens another choice of disposition thats eco friendly.
I think the state of NH should put ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS back on the books and make legal once again.
Give our citizens another choice of disposition thats eco friendly.
It is amazing the level of political flexability of the State of NH that they were prepared to withdraw the legal status of a perfectly legitimate choice of disposal feom its voters
History will make them look stupid over this.
They never made resomation legal as it is merely a copyrighted marketing name, The made Alkaline hydrolysis legal and should do so again.
A fantastic inovative, eco friendly body disposal system.
I am looking at this idea to help increase the acceptance and useage of this for the UK market.!!!
It is the future…..
“Live Free or Die” is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is odd that NH decided against allowing the best option for a final disposition of a body. John Mason must be rolling over in his grave.
I am a founder of CycledLife(TM) which offers a patent pending alkaline hydrolysis system for human remains that is affordable: $128,000 USD. This is much less than the cost of the high pressure systems, typically $200,000 or more. Given the lower capital cost, alkaline hydrolysis can compete effectively with cremation. Almost no one would choose to harm the living by having their remains buried or cremated, if a better option were available. Out of 500 families offered a choice, 499 choose alkaline hydrolysis over burial or cremation. This new option will supersede cremation and burial. With 6.5 billion people alive on our planet, now is the time to make this technology available. For more information on the benefits of CycledLife on the living please visit our website: http://www.CycledLife.com
NH claims 1.3 million people “living free”. With this legislative decision, over 13,000 of its citizens per year will not die free to elect the best means to honor their surviving family and friends. NH citizens, you have a represntative government. Vote out those who dare to take away your freedoms!
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