State orders UNT Health Science Center to stop disposing bodies through water cremation
A state commission ordered the University of North Texas Health Science Center to stop using alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of unclaimed bodies that were previously used by the university for training and research.
The Texas Funeral Service Commission wrote to the Health Science Center on Nov. 1, ordering the university to stop using alkaline hydrolysis and warning that UNT HSC could face legal and administrative penalties if it continues the practice. NBC News first reported on the commission’s letter.
Alkaline hydrolysis “is not authorized under Texas state law and constitutes a serious violation of the standards governing the lawful disposition of human remains,” the commission’s executive director Scott Bingaman wrote in the letter, which was obtained by NBC News.
Alkaline hydrolysis is a method of disposing of human remains that can “accelerate natural decomposition,” according to the Cremation Association of North America, and it also sometimes known as “flameless cremation.” To cremate a body using alkaline hydrolysis, a body is submerged into a chemical and water mixture. Through a combination of heat, pressure and time, the body dissolves, leaving behind liquid remains and bone fragments. It is generally considered to use less resources than burying a body or traditional cremation.
A spokesperson for HSC said HSC had proactively halted water cremations on Sept. 16, after it suspended its program using unclaimed bodies for research and training. The spokesperson said HSC was following a part of Texas administrative code that lists alkaline hydrolysis as a method for disposing of bodies used in medical research.
In its letter, the Texas Funeral Service Commission wrote that alkaline hydrolysis is “not a valid method for final disposition,” including for educational programs.
In September, NBC News reported that more than 830 bodies were used by the center for dissection and study. Other bodies were sold, sometimes limb by limb, to medical research companies and even the U.S. Army, according to the report. Reporters identified at least 12 people who had died and whose bodies were used by HSC without their families’ knowledge or consent.
