LaTimes-The Nation December 26, 2007
Dee Dee Correll’s article in the December 26, 2007 issue of the LA Times discusses the controversy over cremation in regards to the environment. When a person is cremated every part of the body is burned until ashes are produced; the problematic thing with this is that when teeth fillings are burned mercury emission vaporize. According to Correll “Amalgam- an alloy of mercury with other metal such as silver, copper, or tin-is commonly used to fill cavities.” And after being released into the atmosphere it ends up in water sources. This can causes “elevated levels of mercury in fish” which will cause sickness in humans. Minnesota state senator john Marty reported that crematories make up 3-5% of mercury emission per year in the state. “We have to go after every source” Marty says. In contrast Mark Mathews, a director for the Cremation Assn. of North America, says that “There’s a battle over something that isn’t there. The data doesn’t add up and the science isn’t there.” He says that no data has shown higher mercury levels near crematories and the EPA doesn’t regulate them. This cremation problem has almost become a war between environmentalists and cremators, and with 46% of the U.S population planning to choose cremation over burial- this argument will not go away anytime soon.
Tone: informative
Do you think cremation is potentially dangerous to the enviornment?
Friday, December 28, 2007
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6 comments:
yea...a good argument...but where else would the dead bodies go? i men everyone doesnt have mercury fillings..plus cremation in parts of india is sacred to religeons like hinduism and sikhism..its popular everywhere cuz its cheaper and mor affordable..llol
hiya my twin! :D:D hope ur break is good :D
i think if they cremate someone, they should put them in urns. that way, they wont be released out there
-selene
i have a filling, i wanna be cremated, but i dont wanna be kept in an urn. I SAW WHAT HAPPENED ON MEET THE PARENTS!! lol. why dont they just remove the fillings before cremating the person? they do everything else to the body: sew the eyes and mouth shut, put makeup on it, cover up bullet holes :P, why not play dentist and take the fillings out. lol.
Since "crematories make up 3-5% of mercury emission per year in the state.", why don't they just go after the other 95-97% of the cause.Banning cramtion entirely will just cause more problems...pretty soon they are going to run out of land to bury people
good choice of article, well i didn´t know that creamation could be so bad. Personally i don´t really like the fact of someone burning, but seeing how the population is growing everywhere it just might be necessary, because there isn´t that much land left. Watever land there is left will be used to create homes, or somesort of center for our ¨civilization¨. I would have to agree with xoxo not gossip girl, if mercury is such a problem why don´t they take it out before and then creamate them?
There are ways to make cremation less dangerous to the enviroment. The easiest solution is to not release the ashes into the enviroment. Place the ashes in a safer place where the mercury from fillings will not be realeased.
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