Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, what method works best?  With traditional burial, most bodies are filled with embalming fluid, placed in hermetically sealed caskets and then lowered into cement lined vaults.  Nothing speedy about ones return to the earth there.  Cremation might seem like a quicker way to achieve oneness with the earth after life but even cremation has its issues by creating carbon dioxide polluting smoke.  Resomation however, breaks the body down into its component parts very quickly and all the results of the process can be reabsorbed easily by the earth.

Both traditional burial and cremation have negative environmental effects.  Burial requires land and uses embalming fluids that prevent the quick dissolution of the body.  Cremating bodies releases a great deal of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere along with mercury gas from the dissolution of the teeth fillings. 

Resomation on the other hand, uses heat, pressure, water, and potassium hydroxide (a strong alkali) to break the body into its component pieces.  The tissues are dissolved into amino acids, peptides, and sugar.  DNA is completely destroyed in the process since the major components of DNA are reduced to their common building blocks.  Bones are rendered into calcium phosphate that is then easily crushed and can be provided to the family in an Urn.  Unlike traditional cremations, the family only receives the remains of their loved one and not the ashes of whatever else was in the crematorium at the same time.

The process is very precisely controlled with the latest technology.  When the body is placed in the resomation chamber, the chamber weighs the body, and then a computer calculates the correct amounts of water and alkali solution to add for the process to begin.  The chamber is then heated to between 150 and 170 degrees Celsius and pressure is applied.   The whole process takes approximately 3 hours at the end of which two components remain - the calcium phosphate from bones, and a soapy solution of peptides, amino acids and sugar.  Both substances can be used to add nourishment back to the earth as fertilizer for plants.

The process of resomation actually is just the normal process of decomposition that would take place if a body were buried without all of the usual chemicals, caskets, and vaults.  Resomation just speeds the process up.  

Another positive effect of resomation is that all metal implants and prosthetic devices are left in pristine condition after the process is completed.  These implants can be sterilized and reused by others that need them.  Just as cadaver bone is used in certain grafts, cadaver implants can be used to restore the ability to walk and lift to someone else.  All mercury fillings are still intact and can be picked out to be properly disposed of, rather than added to the atmosphere as mercury gas.

Just as technology is improving the way that we live, technology is now improving the way that we can leave this world once we die.  Rather than be buried in indestructible boxes or sent up in polluting smoke, we can now be reduced to our original component parts for reuse in our world.

Entry was posted on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 3:52 pm under Strange, Second Life.  Print This Post