Redwood Funeral Society
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Redwood Funeral Society
To protect and defend individual choice for dignified, ethical, and fairly priced death care, through education, referral, and advocacy.

Serving the California Counties of Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma

Fiona MacGregor, The Scotsman, 14 October 2005

The process, which is known as promession, has been developed in Sweden and aims to address the shortage of burial spaces and reduce the mercury pollution created by dental fillings during cremation.

The Scottish Executive said last night that promession could be considered in its current review of burial and cremation legislation, after councillors in England revealed they were looking at adopting the procedure.

It involves freezing the coffin and body to -18C [0.4 F] before lowering them into liquid nitrogen at -196C [-320.8 F], which leaves them extremely brittle.

A vibrating pad is used to reduce the remains to a powder and a magnetic field then removes all traces of mercury and other metal residues from fillings or hip replacements.

The remains are then put into a biodegradable coffin made from vegetable matter and buried in a shallow grave, where they will be absorbed into the earth within six to 12 months.

Loved ones could plant a tree or shrub on top of the grave, to absorb nutrients from the remains, supporters of the promession system suggest.

The cost of the process is expected to be similar to that for a cremation - around one-third of the price of a grave plot and traditional burial.

Although officials south of the Border believe the procedure would breach English cremation laws, legal experts and church leaders in Scotland said they had no objection to the new method of disposing of the dead.

Professor (Emeritus) Kenyon Mason, an expert in forensic medicine and pathology, medical law and medical ethics, said: "So long as you don't interfere with public health and safety, there are very few rules and there is nothing to stop you burying your aunt at the bottom of the garden if you wish."

Tight guidelines on cremation have been introduced because the body is completely destroyed, which could have implications in crime cases.

Prof Mason said promession created similar legal concerns, but would not be covered under cremation legislation.

"Since it would not be covered by cremation law, I don't see why it shouldn't happen, as long as it is not offending against public health or local government regulations. Sooner or later we're going to have to stop burying people because all the space will be taken up.

"It seems to me that it is just as proper to have a casket containing ashes or powder as a body, so ethically it seems quite all right."

A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: "There do not appear to be any theological implications with this method of disposal, but it sounds like an appropriate thing from an environmental viewpoint."

The town of Jonkoping in Sweden is planning to turn its crematorium into a "promatorium" next year because of the multi-million-pound cost of introducing mercury filters to meet emissions targets.

Burial is not the only answer
The Parsees of Mumbai in India leave their dead on top of Towers of Silence to be eaten by vultures, while in the Solomon Islands, the deceased are laid out on a reef for the sharks to eat.

In Jamaica, a celebration called Nine Night involves singing and dancing, while fried fish, cake and bread is placed on a central table and left until midnight, so the spirits of the dead can eat.

According to Maori custom, the dying are placed in huts, which are later burned. The corpse is then dressed for public viewing. After a few years, the bones are cleaned, covered in red earth and placed in a special cave.