Burying dead people straight into the ground?

[Aton11]

I had heard that you cannot bury human corpses directly into the ground because of potential disease, or contamination of groundwater, or maybe for other reasons as well. A colleague just informed me about Green Funerals, and Nature Memorials, where people are apparently being placed directly into Mother Earth without embalming or caskets. Anyone know about this? Why can we now do this?

[RealityChuck]

Assuming the person didn’t die of a communicable disease, a dead body, contrary to popular belief is not a major health hazard.

url=http://dying.about.com/od/miscellaneousfaqs/f/EmbalmingLaw.htm]Embalming and caskets are primarily used to improve the bottom line of funeral homes (and prevent squemishness on the part of the family), and AFIAK, are not required by law (except if you’re moving the body or delaying the funeral).

[Shagnasty]

Your basic pine box burial should have at least as much risk if not more. As stated, the goal of embalming is to make a body look presentable until just after it is buried. They don’t mummify people much here and the body is still going to decay in rather short order. The box will eventually break down too so ashes to ashes and dust to dust should be taken literally. All of that bacteria and decay still takes place even if it is surrounded by wood. It may even be worse because caskets result in air exposure and extended putrification. I would think nature would just have a body in plain dirt to deal with just like with every other animal.

[RetroVertigo]

Cecil deals with the idea of contamination here.

@Cecil

Today we know that methane and other gases released by decomposition, while not entirely benign, don’t cause disease. As you rightly suspect, the real danger, if there is one, is groundwater contamination. Local regulations typically forbid burials below the water table, specify minimum distances between wells and burial grounds, and so on. For a long time most people were content to leave it at that, but over the past decade or so a few scientists and environmental officials in various parts of the world have felt moved to investigate just how serious a public-health threat cemeteries actually were. In general they found that (a) remarkably little research has been done on the subject, (b) elevated levels of contaminants can be detected at some grave sites, (c) contamination generally decreases significantly the farther you get from the sites, and (d) overall there’s little evidence that cemeteries have much impact on groundwater. Australian hydrogeologist Boyd Dent, an expert on cemetery-related environmental issues, put the matter bluntly in the title of a 1998 paper: “Cemeteries: A Special Kind of Landfill.” In other words, cemeteries represent a manageable risk.

[Contrapuntal]

@Aton11

I had heard that you cannot bury human corpses directly into the ground because of potential disease, or contamination of groundwater, or maybe for other reasons as well. A colleague just informed me about Green Funerals, and Nature Memorials, where people are apparently being placed directly into Mother Earth without embalming or caskets. Anyone know about this? Why can we now do this?

Google is your friend. green burial - Google Search

[GrandWino]

There was a pretty great story line on Six Feet Under dealing with a green funeral. Made me pretty fond of the idea.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

No, we bury people all the time in just a shroud. Have for centuries.

It does present a few problems. We get lots of subsidence as the bodies decompose. Since the graveyard has no grass to mow, it is not an issue that graveyards are cratered.

Also last week, the wind shifted the sand over a graveyard (someplace, I do not recall where). The bones were exposed, freaking the local villagers. The government insisted it was not a bad omen and put a fence around the boneyard so animals would not disturb the remains.

[Schnitte]

@RealityChuck

url=http://dying.about.com/od/miscellaneousfaqs/f/EmbalmingLaw.htm]Embalming and caskets are primarily used to improve the bottom line of funeral homes (and prevent squemishness on the part of the family), and AFIAK, are not required by law (except if you’re moving the body or delaying the funeral).

That of course depends on your jurisdiction. In Germany, most state laws do require caskets, both for burials and cremations. I think it’s more a matter of deference than of sanitary concerns, though.

In general, European legislation is a bit picky regarding legal provisions for funerals, at least more than American legislation and custoom, which seems to be pretty liberal on that issue. So I wouldn’t be surprised that caskets are required by law in most European countries.

[Blake]

@Paul in Saudi

No, we bury people all the time in just a shroud. …It does present a few problems. We get lots of subsidence as the bodies decompose

This doesn’t seem to make any sense. A casket contains far more empty space than a shroud. That should mean that a casket burial would result in moresubsidence.

[Gfactor]

New York says no-casket burials are ok:

@New York Department of Health

Does New York State require the use of a casket or outer interment receptacle?

* No, but many cemeteries do require the use of a "suitable container." New York State law allows for the use of an unfinished wooden box or an "alternative container" made of cardboard, pressed wood, composition materials, or canvas or other material. Even though burial vaults or grave liners are not required by law, some cemeteries require them to prevent collapse or sinking of the grave. If you do not want to buy a burial vault, choose a cemetery that does not require vaults.

http://www.health.state.ny.us/professionals/patients/patient_rights/funeral.htm

Lisa Carlson surveys burial laws in all 50 states in Caring for the Dead: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0942679210/002-0279090-2782411?v=glance&n=283155

Cecil also reviewed laws disussing home burials here: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041203.html

[Joey_P]

@HelloNinja

There was a pretty great story line on Six Feet Under dealing with a green funeral. Made me pretty fond of the idea.

Actually there were two green burials. The one where Nate stole Lisa’s body and took it out to the woods, and the one where they buried Nate and ended up dropping him Six Feet Under.

[betenoir]

@Schnitte

In Germany, most state laws do require caskets, both for burials and cremations. I think it’s more a matter of deference than of sanitary concerns, though.

This is what I was wondering about…I want to be cremated…well, I don’t want to, I’m still angling for immortality but barring that…I want to avoid the ridiculous $6,000 funerals. So I’m wondering if I’m cremated do I actually (well not me I’ll be dead, but someone) have to buy a casket that serves no reasonable purpose? Even less than if I were buried? Is there any place I could have a funeral pyre rather than being stuffed in an oven? Or a Viking funeral? Can anyone recommend me a good place to go to die? (Not that I’m planning on it this week.)

[gabriela]

These people seem to take care of a lot of our cremations without charging a lot - it’s the purpose for which they were founded.

Google led me to the Riverside branch because that’s who had the Web site; I’m actually in an Eastern state and don’t know that local branch. But if they’re anything like their Eastern counterparts, they seem to do what you’re looking for.

Here are two alternatives:

1. Donate your body to science.

It doesn’t actually go to science. After a decent wait of two to three years in embalming fluid, it goes to a local med school to train the young doctors.

Absolutely free of charge to your family - the med school will pay for everything down to transport from the place where you die. The kicker is you can’t die of a communicable disease. Pick up AIDS or hepatitis in the last years before you die, you’re out. Also, no headstone.

2. Tell your family to abandon your body legally.

They will PO the local medical examiner’s office, but it’s doable. They just have to refuse to claim the body. Sign a form saying they will not bury it. The body will be buried by the county sheriff. It will be marked by a simple headstone - real simple - just a number. The place where it is buried is often popularly known as “potter’s field”.