Alkaline Hydrolysis is the process of dissolving the soft tissue of a human body into a liquid form through heat, pressure and chemicals. This “effluent” is drained into the sanitary sewer, and the bones are returned to the family as with cremation by fire.
There are a number of issues with this “Greener” technology which can save money in funeral services if the funeral home chooses to.
The body is placed in a pressure vessel with chemicals and water, then heat (about 300 degrees) and pressure (25 to 65 pounds per square inch depending on the type of unit) are applied until the body is liquefied. The body is literally cooked down in a pressure cooker to a soupy mixture. The proponents of BioCremation or EcoCremation state that this has a smaller “Carbon Footprint”. There is no documentation from an independent laboratory to prove this. It takes energy to produce water and heat matter up to 300 degrees and sustain it for hours. It takes considerable energy to manufacture the machines.
Sanitary sewers are a series of underground pipes which drain the wastewater from our houses, businesses and manufacturing facilities. Part of your loved one’s body will be flushed into the same pipes which carry your human waste. Is this a dignified final resting place?
There is a disease in humans which is similar to Mad Cow Disease or Chronic Wasting Disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. CJD belongs to a family of human and animal diseases known as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
The leading scientific theory at this time maintains that CJD and the other TSEs are caused by a type of protein called a prion.
Prion proteins occur in both a normal form, which is a harmless protein found in the body’s cells, and in an infectious form, which causes disease. Once they appear, abnormal prion proteins aggregate, or clump together. Investigators think these protein aggregates may lead to the neuron loss and other brain damage seen in CJD. However, they do not know exactly how this damage occurs. There is no ante mortem test which conclusively diagnoses CJD and no cure. It is always fatal. The problem with prions is in the disposal of the infected tissues. There is NO conclusive proof that prions can be completely destroyed except by intense heat as in cremation by fire.
Most of our wastewater is treated at a sewage disposal plant and then the liquid is returned to a body of water or into the ground. Solid waste sludge is applied to farmer’s fields. The prions continue to live and re-infect.
Please do your research. Not all “green” technology saves money and betters our environment.
