Posted on 10/07/2006 7:36:04 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
DUBLIN -- In a stainless-steel cabinet between two gurneys, Josh Moonman stores bottles of a pink fluid, labeled with skulls and crossbones, that is used for embalming bodies.
"If I were to open one of those lids now and let you smell it, it would knock you back," says Mr. Moonman, an embalmer for Ireland's Fanagan Group of mortuaries.
Because the fluid contains formaldehyde, which is poisonous, European Union regulators are considering banning the chemical as a potential threat to human health and the environment. Among the worries, environmentalists say: decaying bodies leaching toxic chemicals into the ground.
But a ban would be unlucky for the Irish, undertakers here say -- not to mention for the Dodge Company, an American concern that stands to lose as much as $3 million in annual sales as the dominant supplier of embalming fluids to funeral homes in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The Cambridge, Mass., company and its allies in the Irish funeral industry are lobbying the EU for a "cultural heritage" exemption to any EU ban. Their argument: The storied Irish wake is threatened by overzealous regulation. "The expectation in the Irish public is that they will be able to see and view the deceased," says Gus Nichols of Nichols Funeral Directors here.
In modern Ireland, union rules restrict the hours of cemetery workers. And because it takes time to get people together for a funeral, several days can pass between death and burial. Embalming delays decomposition and gives grieving families the time they feel they need to hold a proper Irish wake, Mr. Nichols says.
That's blarney, say advocates of a growing movement to promote more-natural, ecologically sensitive "green burials." The real threat is not to the Irish wake but to the profits of the funeral industry, they say.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
How EU edict could kill off the Irish wake (Telegraph thread)
What's the difference between and Irish wedding and an Irish funeral?
One less drunk!
The difference between the Irish and Europeans is a vast gulf so wide it cannot be bridged.
The left really despises a traditional open casket funeral. We're known for that here in the south, as well. But, the custom is under attack, from snide would-be arbiters of taste, who deem the practice barbaric. They're really pushing cremation, usually rationalized on the basis of cost. I think they're trying to distance people from tradition as well as religion, but whether it's a conscious effort or not, I can't say.
Formaldehyde is rather active chemically and would be scavenged by the ground unless that ground is a sand, stone or an ice - if there are biologicals in the ground, it would not travel far.
Very well said. The more of our ancient traditions the liberals can strip away, the greater their success in luring younger generations into their camp.
Now now!! You're stereotyping and that's not politically correct and is disrespectful of another culture....................................
HAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!
Actually, that was hilarious! One less drunk! HA!
A good point, but there are times when I believe a closed casket is appropriate. I had a friend who died in a mototrcycle accident. He hit a dump truck doing 100 mph. The family insisted on an open casket. It was disturbing to say the least, as no amount of make-up could cover up the extensive damage to his head.
It never stops, does it? Can't even talk about the weather anymore, without political mindgames entering into it. Now it's following us right into the ground.
"The left really despises a traditional open casket funeral. We're known for that here in the south, as well. "
Good Lord, been there, done that. "Doesn't he look natural", "go on up and kiss your Granny". I always hated funerals.
Other than those odd people who frequently get dressed up and hang out at funeral homes, visiting wakes for people they never knew (I've never known what to call them, myself ... wake groupies?), I don't know a soul that actually likes funerals. They're an unfortunate necessity for us mere mortals. As far as the cringe factor of an open casket, I'll grant you that. The upside, though, is the immediate reality of it all. It's virtually impossible to go into denial, and it helps the mourning process along as a result.
Most cemeteries require burial in a sealed, inert vault. While the casket probably wouldn't do much toward containing the embalming fluids as the body decomposed, the vault is theoretically air- and water-tight. This is a tempest in a tea-plot.
Yep, it could be a threat to the dead and bunch of worms around the coffin if leaked out 300 years later. Ban everything!
Why do you folks in Europe let these assh*les in Brussels micro-manage your country and your lives?? SSZ
I'm not in Europe. I'm in Nebraska.
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