'사람 시신을 퇴비로 사용?' VIDEO: Washington first US state to legalize human composting
Washington first US state to legalize human composting
By AFP
Washington on Tuesday became the first US state to legalize human composting after its eco-friendly governor signed a bill to that effect in a bid to cut carbon emissions from burials and cremations.
ABC15 Arizona
edited by kcontents
'사람 시신을 퇴비로 사용?' 美 워싱턴 내년 5월부터 법안 시행 미국 워싱턴주(州)가 사람의 시신을 퇴비로 쓰는 법안을 합법화했다. 인간 퇴비화는 스웨덴에서 합법적이지만, 미국에서는 워싱턴주가 최초다. 22일(현지 시각) BBC, 가디언 등에 따르면, 제이 인슬리 미국 워싱턴 주지사는 전날 ‘인간 퇴비화’ 관련 법안에 서명했다. 이전까지는 시신을 매장하거나 화장하는 것만 허용됐지만, 내년 5월부터는 선택에 따라 퇴비화할 수 있다. 사망한 사람의 시신은 나뭇조각, 짚 등을 활용한 육각형 용기에 들어가 30일 이내에 자연 분해된다. 이같은 재구성(Recomposition)과정이 끝나면 유가족 등은 받은 흙을 정원의 화단이나 텃밭에 사용하거나 뿌릴 수 있다. 법안을 발의한 워싱턴주 제이미 피더슨(민주) 상원의원은 "묘지 땅이 부족한 도시에서는 퇴비화가 좋은 선택일 수 있다"며 "이산화탄소를 배출하는 화장이나 지하수와 토양을 오염시키고 공간을 많이 차지하는 매장 방식보다 훨씬 친환경적"이라고 밝혔다. 시신 퇴비화 장례 서비스를 시행하는 '리컴포즈’의 최고경영자(CEO) 카트리나 스페이드는 "자연스럽고 안전하고, 지속가능한 과정"이라고 설명했다. 최근 전 세계에서는 친환경 장례 바람이 불고 있다. 지난 3월 뇌졸중으로 사망한 미국 영화배우 루크페리는 버섯수의를 입고 장례를 치렀다. 버섯수의는 살충제, 방부제, 중금속 등 체내에서 환경오염 물질을 중화하고 사체를 분해하는 것으로 알려졌다. 스위스, 영국에서는 수목장(자연장) 문화가 활성화돼있다. 안소영 기자 조선일보 출처 : http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/05/22/2019052201208.html |
edited by kcontenst
Under the new law that will go into effect in May of next year, people who die in the state will have the option to have their bodies transformed into soil suitable for use in gardening in a process called recomposition.
"Recomposition offers an alternative to embalming and burial or cremation that is natural, safe, sustainable, and will result in significant savings in carbon emissions and land usage," said Katrina Spade, who lobbied for the law and is the founder of Recompose, a Seattle-based company set to be the first to offer the service.
"The idea of returning to nature so directly and being folded back into the cycle of life and death is actually pretty beautiful," Spade added in a statement sent to AFP.
She said she became interested in the process about 10 years ago after turning 30 and thinking more about her own mortality.
Spade then began examining the technical aspects of creating an environmentally friendly "third option" that could compete with the $20-billion US funeral industry, which offers conventional burial and cremation.
Her approach -- developed with Washington State University, which did clinical trials with donor bodies -- calls for a dead person to be placed in an hexagonal steel container filled with wood chips, alfalfa and straw.
The container is then shut and the body is decomposed by microbes within 30 days. The end product is a dry, fluffy nutrient-rich soil resembling what one would buy at a local nursery and suitable for vegetable gardens.
"Everything -- including bones and teeth –- is recomposed," Spade said. "That’s because our system creates the perfect environment for thermophilic (i.e. heat-loving) microbes and beneficial bacteria to break everything down quite quickly."
The process used by Recompose is the same as that used for decades with farm animals and the clinical trials carried out by the university in Washington found that it was also safe for use with humans.
- 'Socially acceptable materials' -
"We have found that the essential methods that we use for livestock mortality composting are also effective for human disposition," said Dr Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, a professor of soil science at Washington State University. "We have substantially changed the materials used, to be socially acceptable, but the basic principles that we have learned from livestock mortality composting are very effective for the human research subjects that we used."
According to statistics, more than one in two Americans opt for cremation. In Washington state, nearly 75 percent of people choose that option.
"Human compost" that is supposed to look like the soil shown in this picture
edited by kcontents
Spade expects her company to charge some $5,500 for a "natural organic reduction," an amount a little bit over the price of cremation but less than the price of burial in a casket.
Her innovation comes as so-called "green" or earth-friendly burials are gaining traction in the United States, where companies are now offering organic caskets or a burial in which the body is wrapped in a simple shroud in towns that allow it.
The actor Luke Perry, star of the hit-series "Beverly Hills 90210" who died in March, was buried in a biodegradable suit made partly out of mushrooms, as he requested.
The so-called "mushroom suit" was developed by Coeio, a California startup, that said the attire helps the body decompose, neutralizes toxins found in the body and transfers nutrients to plant life.
But not everyone is enthusiastic about turning bodies into garden-variety soil, notably the Catholic church, which has denounced recomposition as undignified.
"The Catholic Church believes that disposing human remains in such a manner fails to show enough respect for the body of the deceased," Joseph Sprague, executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, said in a letter to the legislative committee that examined the bill signed on Tuesday.
http://en.rfi.fr/contenu/20190521-washington-first-us-state-legalize-human-composting-0
