This one pretty much ruined my breakfast…

Since they first walked the planet, humans have either buried orburned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest — dissolvingbodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy residue down the drain.  Theprocess is called alkaline hydrolysis and was developed in this country16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses. It uses lye, 300-degreeheat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in bigstainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers.  Nofuneral homes in the U.S. — or anywhere else in the world, as far asthe equipment manufacturer knows — offer it. In fact, only two U.S.medical centers use it on human bodies, and only on cadavers donatedfor research.  But because of its environmental advantages, some in the funeral industry say it could someday rival burial and cremation.  “It’snot often that a truly game-changing technology comes along in thefuneral service,” the newsletter Funeral Service Insider said inSeptember. But “we might have gotten a hold of one.”

Source:  AP, http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ifodxwqgqRNgn74m2nZOLId0xCOwD90HKMBG0