Sweden Mulls Freeze-Drying As New Burial Method
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sweden Mulls Freeze-Drying As New Burial Method*
Freeze drying corpses is an eco-friendly way of disposing with dead bodies.
Stockholm (AFP) May 17, 2007
Sweden is considering allowing freeze-drying as a new method to bury the
dead instead of traditional burials and cremations, Culture Minister
Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth told the Swedish church's weekly paper on
Wednesday. "I would like to push for the issue of freeze-drying. I think
it is interesting and based on what I have heard I have a positive view
of the method," Adelsohn Liljeroth, whose brief covers burial laws, told
Kyrkans Tidning.
The freeze-drying method offers an environmentally friendly burial
transforming corpses into organic compost. Traditional burials and
cremations hurt the environment by polluting air and water, as a corpse
buried in a coffin will take many years to decompose completely.
Under the new method, the corpse is taken to a temperature of minus 196
degrees Celsius in a liquid nitrogen bath and the body is broken down
into a rough powder through mechanical vibrations.
The remains are then dehydrated and cleared of any metal, reducing a
body weighing 75 kilograms (165 pounds) in life to 25 kilograms (55
pounds) of pink-beige powder, plus the remains of the coffin.
The whole process takes place in a facility resembling a crematorium and
lasts for about two hours.
Swedish legislation would need to be changed in order to legalise the
method.
"We will have to put forward a proposal to change the burial law," the
minister said, adding that many of Sweden's bishops shared her positive
view.
The Lutheran Church of Sweden has been pushing for the legalisation of
the new method for years.
"Finally! We have been in touch with the culture ministry over and over
again," Karin de Fine Licht, a lawyer for the church told the paper.
Ten frozen bodies are already waiting to be buried as soon as the new
method is approved, the paper said.
Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh and her company Promessa have
specialised in the freeze-drying method, and the company has applied for
patents in 35 countries.
The Church of Sweden holds a five percent stake in Promessa alongside
Wiigh's 42 percent. Industrial gases company AGA Gas, part of Germany's
Linde group, has taken a controlling stake of 53 percent in the company.
Promessa has promoted the idea of using the human remains, like compost,
to feed plants and shrubs.
Source: Agence France-Presse