Memorial Business Journal

If residents in the Columbus, Ohio, area were wondering what alkaline hydrolysis was, they will soon be getting an education. With the Ohio Department of Health acting on the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors’ letter that alkaline hydrolysis is not a recognized form of disposition in the state, funeral director Jeff Edwards will no longer be issued burial permits to care for the loved ones of client families that embraced this form of disposition.

Edwards is challenging this decision in an effort to allow his firm to continue offering this process, which undoubtedly will be the source of a series of news articles. With all due respect to the consumer media, the newspaper should not be the forum where the general public finds out about the process. It should be coming from the experts – funeral directors and funeral service suppliers. To be fair, some excellent articles have been written on the subject by ABC News and MSNBC, to name a few.

An article in the March 23 Columbus Dispatch had the unfortunate headline, “State Halts Liquid Cremation,” which is an oxymoron of the “old news” variety. The two processes are not synonymous. (Note: NFDA Public Relations Manager Jessica Koth was misquoted in the Columbus Dispatch article. The reporter inaccurately attributed to her this statement: Unlike cremation, hydrolysis doesn’t pollute the air with mercury from dental fillings. Said Koth: “We never broached the subject of mercury during the call. He never asked about it and I did not bring it up.” A correction has since been printed.)

For consumers who worry that the lye solution will create an environmental hazard, the process was cleared from being hazardous to the sewer system by the Columbus Public Utilities Department. The major source of confusion now is if burial and cremation were the only two approved procedures in Ohio in January, when Edwards received his first permit, then why is he not being issued burial permits now?

Either a mistake was made in January when the first permit was issued or a mistake is being made now. On city burial permits, Edwards was checking the word “other” for his hydrolysis families. Also, considering that Edwards’ first appearance before the Board of Embalmers was seven months ago, one might wonder about the progress in Ohio for getting the laws changed and getting regulations in place.

No one is arguing that there shouldn’t be regulation. There are many areas of concern, such as who can perform this process, what safety precautions must be taken, etc. Edwards himself drafted guidelines modeled on what is being discussed in California. Alkaline hydrolysis isn’t going away, so it would be a good idea for the state that already has completed the first 19 commercial alkaline hydrolysis cases to fast-track appropriate guidelines and regulations. This isn’t the first time that technology has beaten regulation and it won’t be the last.

So far, the alkaline hydrolysis era in funeral service is not off to a good start, but you knew that sooner or later the process would end up in court. As Poul Lemasters said in this week’s issue, “I am curious to where this is going to go, and I want to make sure it goes the right way for the profession.” Don’t we all.