Ragged Clown

It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing…


Burning Grandma

August
2009

Those people protesting the death panels that will be deciding whether your grandma will have to be put down should be thankful that they don’t live in socialist Denmark where your grandma’s body parts might be recycled or used to warm their relatives.

Burnt bodies leave knee or hip replacements that can be recycled as scrap metal, says Allan Vest, the association’s chairman. Since 2006 the country’s 31 crematoriums have earned DKr 77,762 ($15,000) from 4,810kg of salvaged metal sold to a Dutch recycler.

[snip]

The International Cremation Federation, a lobby group based in The Hague, advises against commercialising the products of cremation. But the Danish Council of Ethics, a group including scientists, clergy and philosophers that advises parliament, has found no ethical reason to oppose recycling heat. Although it thinks burning granny especially to warm radiators would be indecent and illegal, cremation is a respectful and hygienic disposal of bodies.

Body Heat – The Economist

I am altering my will to require that my body be recycled.