The bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were incinerated as clinical waste in the United Kingdom, with some even used to heat hospitals, an investigation has found. Ten NHS trusts have admitted burning foetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in “waste-to-energy” plants which generate power for heat. The Read more
Charlie Nguyen, the owner of Charlie’s Liquor and Smoke Shop in Wichita, Kansas, found the unusual item during his shift. The bag said ‘remains of Helen K. Dapron’ and gave her apparent dates of birth and death as October 1930 and June 2010. Charlie told local television station KSN: ‘Just like that, people leave phone, Read more
A Waikato kaumatua says there is a cultural shift from burial to cremation. A Maori funeral director in west Auckland, Francis Tipene, says he is seeing more and more bereaved whanau choosing cremation over burial because it is a less expensive option. Continue reading
A surge in popularity for cremations in the US is threatening to overwhelm its “mom-and-pop” funeral homes, which count on big burials for their profits. The recipients of the pricey goods Mike Nicodemus sells will not be around to enjoy them. For the baseball fan, he offers a cremation urn with the favourite team’s logo. Read more
The Catholic Church in Italy has issued new guidelines that rule out scattering the cremated remains of a person or the keeping them in an urn at home. ‘Cremation is considered as concluded when the urn is deposited in the cemetery,’ says the appendix to the new edition of Funeral Rites issued by Italian Episcopal Read more