Yeah. Me too.
Actually, I wonder about breast implants-- that stuff burning can't be good for anyone, right? Are after-market knockers poking holes in the ozone layer?
From a site which boasts funky crematorium facts:
"Another medical device that causes crematoria problems are silicone breast implants. The cremains stick to the residual silicone, which means you’ll wind up with clumps of Aunt Erma instead of gritty ash."
Um. Ew.
Then there's the not insignificant matter of the artificial joints-- that titanium ain't cheap, baby. According to one site, post-cremation, dental gold and silver is not recoverable(though they refer to the precious metals as "jewelry" which seems more perverse to me than to simply call it what it is). My speculation would be that the folks who prepped the body already picked that out, but they don't actually expand on that. They seem to want us to think it's incinerated along with Aunt Erma. Again, all those heavy metals being converted to gas form prolly ain't doing us a world of good.
Apparently the titanium and other artifical parts are re-sold by crematoria to manufacturers for use in-- wait for it-- more artifical joints. There seems to be a sort of toothsome symmetry to that-- sort of a book-end type arrangement.
Yeah, I know it's icky to consider this, but it's stuff we wonder about and I think the wondering is way more spooky than putting on one's big-girl panties and facing the truth.
Speaking of, I've said so before here, but I've told my folks that whatever means of dispensation should suit them will be fine should I shuffle off this mortal coil leaving them to plan my sendoff. I've heard some say they are freaked out by the thought of their body having been destroyed and not being all together when it is swept up to Heaven sometime down the road. Well, sweetie-- I think the Lord of All Creation who made the universe and everything can re-congregate the earthly bits of you, should He so desire, so I think that's a lame argument against cremation. The thought of cremation squicks my Mom out, so I only ask that they don't choose some meringue, hideous casket, but merely a simple Trappist Casket from those lovely monks at the monastery in Peosta Iowa will suit me fine, if I get the standard un-fired burial.
I actually strongly urge everyone to watch Penn & Teller's episode of Bullshit! which focused on the funeral industry. (I think you can actually see bits of this episode on YouTube) I think we often are taken advantage of due to the sheer unpleasantness of the topic, when, in fact, death is as natural as birth around here. If you live long enough, it'll happen to you.
