Alternate method

According to a London datelined news report which appeared in the Free Press Journal of August 8, 2007: "A British company... has an eco-friendly alternative to cremation: Boiling bodies into dust.

"In the process, called resomation, the body is encased in a silk coffin and submerged in water mixed with potassium hydroxide. It is then heated to 302 degrees Fahrenheit which rapidly turns it into white dust, The Mail on Sunday reported.

"The process is more eco-friendly than cremation, during which a body is heated to 2,192 degrees Fahrenheit, letting off harmful fumes such as mercury, according to Resomation, the firm selling the boiling process. Instead, the company says, it is essentially a much faster version of natural decomposition. Resomation also is affordable, costing about $ 600, the same as a cremation, the company said. About a thousand bodies in the United States have already been processed with resomation.”

In view of the above, can someone do research into and investigate the process of resomation? Does it conform to our Zoroastrian philosophy of non-pollution? Will our high priests offer any objection to this system? I write this to start a debate which will help us arrive at a solution.

CYRUS MANCHERJI

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