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MYTHS ABOUT EMBALMING

Many people today believe that embalming is mandatory when a person dies. Unfortunately, some home funeral homes propagate and sustain
this belief and even go so far as convincing people to embalm the deceased even if they are not doing a visitation and a cremation.
Few people are aware that the sanitation and preservation of a decedent can almost always take place without the use of any chemicals,
as is done in just about every nation in the world. It is important to know that it is NOT legally required to embalm anywhere in North America.
In Québec embalming is only required when a visitation or repatriation is planned.

Another myth is that embalming is required to keep people safe from the dead body.
Except in the case of infectious/highly contagious diseases, exposure to a dead body is NOT dangerous for the general public.

Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Centre for Infections Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota testified
during a 2010 hearing on a bill designed to help families take care of their own dead. In his supporting letter, he wrote:

“In the recent Senate hearing, I had the opportunity to hear the testimony of a representative of the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association.
Frankly, I was extremely disappointed by the scare tactics they used in that testimony to suggest to the committee that dead bodies in general
pose a significant infectious disease risk.”

He continues to say:

“In this regard, I also render my best professional judgment that the mere presence of a dead body without regard to its embalmed status
and one that is not leaking blood from an open wound or perforation, or has dried blood on the skin*, does not pose any increased
risk of infectious disease transmission for the person who might handle that body or review it in a private setting.
Once a human dies, infectious agents that would be of any concern, including those on the individual’s skin or internal organs is greatly diminished.”
(*Dried blood reference was added recently by Dr.Osterholm due to Ebola virus in some parts of the world.  At present Ebola is not a threat in North America.)

From Final Rights by Carlson and Slocum:
“Although the funeral industry has long promoted the myth that embalming 'protects the public health', it does in fact create a danger for embalmers
while offering no health benefit to the living. Embalmers open bodies that might otherwise be intact, thus potentially exposing themselves to
fluid-borne pathogens. The formaldehyde they use is highly toxic and is a respiratory irritant.”

Another myth is that embalming is like mummification; in other words, the body will be preserved forever, immune to the unsavory effects of
decomposition.  Although the funeral industry has made many efforts to convince the general public that embalming is both a safe and guaranteed
way to preserve a body permanently, many embalmed cadavers have been exhumed showing wildly varied effects.
Indeed, at times exhumed bodies have been found to be well preserved many years later, but there are documented cases in which cadavers
have reacted unpredictably, such as transforming into a liquid mass or exploding from pent up gases.

Embalming
History of Embalming
Truths about Embalming
Source Material/Resources


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