When a family member dies, mourning is usually interrupted
by the several decisions one has to make. At the center center of all the
questions lies the most important one: how should our loved one be mourned? The
“right” answer can vary according to many factors including religious beliefs,
household income, social norms, etc. The growing popularity of home funerals
during the last couple of years in the United States triggered commercial
funeral firms to engage in serious rent-seeking. After all, this is one more industry trying to get the most profit over all the other competing
alternatives, just like many other firms in different industries do when they
feel challenged.
In the United States, 16 states require that human remains
be embalmed or refrigerated usually within 24-48 hours. Virginia is one of the
most particular cases. Virginia State Senator Kenneth Alexander proposed a bill
that requires the remains to be refrigerated at a temperature of no more than
40 degrees. However, this law has no scientific base. The temperature at which
remains must be refrigerated is not strictly that, and cooling via dry ice or
other means is perfectly fine, from a biological point of view. This and other similar regulations are supposed to avoid potential health hazards caused by human
remains. Nonetheless, science has proved that un-refrigerated human remains don’t
really pose significant public health risks. So, what is the real reason authorities
are inclined to these regulations that place heavy burdens on families and
religious communities that want to take personal care of their deceased
relatives? Well, it happens to be that Senator Kenneth Alexander is a funeral
director himself who is knowledgeable about this topic, so he has good reasons
to impose these regulations… And apparently he has been successfully spreading his advice to other state Senators across the country.
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