First In The Nation Resomation?

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Soft-spoken and media-shy, Manchester funeral director Chad Corbin is an unlikely revolutionary….But he says that from the moment he learned of resomation – a trademarked neologism from the Greek that means rebirth of the body -- he was smitten.

“I worked at a facility that was near the mayo clinic and I knew the funeral directors that ran the anatomical donation facility there and really liked the technology and thought that if they can use it there, why not in a funeral home?”

The technology Corbin admires is housed in torpedo-shaped chamber sealed with a submarine style-door. Inside, the body rests on a mesh screen. The chamber is then filled with a solution of water and 50 pounds of lye steam-heated to 300 degrees.…Three hours later, what’s left is a pile of bones and 200 gallons of fluid with a ph level somewhere between hand-soap and ammonia…... While some in the funeral trade has dismissed the process as being akin to “boiling the hell out of a chicken,” proponents like Chad Corbin argue that resomation’s lack of emissions and low operating costs – which some peg at 80 percent less than a conventional cremations --- make it nothing less than the future of the funeral industry…… But soon after moving to NH to take over the Goodwin funeral home in 2005, Chad Corbin learned that few in the state’s clannish mortuary world agreed.

"I went to the funeral directors board after they wouldn’t move on it and I knew they wouldn’t move on it and I knew they wouldn’t more on I started coming here, pleading my case and sending e-mails saying that’s something very good for people and the environment and everyone involved."

Corbin’s one man lobbying push ultimately paid off, to a point…….Two years ago, lawmakers authorized commercial resomation when they overhauled state cremation standards in the wake of the high profiled scandal at the Bayview crematory in Seabrook.. … Corbin says he has no idea how the resomation language -- which was opposed by the state funeral board --found its way into the Bayview bill…….And what’s odd, is that neither do lawmakers.

"There was considerable angst over the procedure."

That’s Democratic state senator Betsi DeVries. She’s now backing a proposal to set rules for resomation, based on existing cremation standards……That move has drawn a cool response from the state board of funeral, which says the process warrants different rules, and a pointed critique from crematory operators. Buddy Phaneuf is a Manchester funeral director and crematory owner who sees no need for NH to be first in the nation in resomation.

"Our funeral and cremation industry in NH has got enough of a black eye with bayview crematory and I’m not exactly sure we want to be the pilot site for resomation in the united states."

But rules or not, unless lawmakers repeal the provision allowing resomation, it’s unclear that the state has the authority to stop resomation chambers from being built as long as they met environmental permitting standards. Chad Corbin’s proposed facility already has the approval of the state department of environmental services and the city of Concord. That signoff came last year after several meetings that left Concord’s planning board convinced that the proposal was reasonable. Stephen Henninger is Concord’s assistant city planner.

"We have contractors, we have cabinet makers, we have machine shops. It was actually probably a lower impact use than we typically have in our light-industrial parks."

For now, though Chad Corbin --- who says he’d welcome any reasonable regulation -- says his proposal is on hold. The push for state resomation regulation seems likely to meet the same fate……While the Senate passed the proposed regulation by a unanimous vote last month, a house health and human services subcommittee want to hold the bill for further study……Most observers expect the full House to recommend the same.