Cremation: A health and environmental disaster
How mercury and the "dirty dozen" in crematory vapors is killing everyone
Americans are waking up to mercury pollution from crematories
Communities across America that have been subjected to breathing crematory vapors have organized on a local level to oppose the nearby building of crematories. Citizen groups in about 35 states have opposed crematory building applications or have called on the state and federal government to be held accountable for emissions of mercury and other pollutants. Over the past twenty years, scientists have become responsive to this problem, but often the local, state, or federal governments have not changed policies around mercury pollution in crematories.
The EPA has put the issue of regulation of crematories into the hands of individual states, but states lack critical (federal) funding and management of crematory filtration. Professor Boyd Haley, PhD, America’s mercury expert, has presented at Congressional hearings, but the EPA budget continues to be cut. Meanwhile, every person and living creature on the planet is subject to breathing not just mercury but over 700 pollutants released from human bodies, with mercury loads increasing every year. There is no one—not even Presidents or Kings—that are immune from breathing crematory vapors.
It’s now up to individuals and communities to deal with the legal and medical consequences of mercury, as in the tragic case of Tri-State Crematory in Georgia in which the owner and his son were unknowingly poisoned for years by invisible mercury vapors from a leaking oven pipe. In this case, the father suffered a stroke and died some years later, and the son became vulnerable to Erethism (a form of chronic mercury poisoning with severe mental health symptoms) causing him to commit criminal acts while working at the family’s crematory. Apparently, when the entire crematory was demolished by OSHA, it was determined that the oven retorts had been leaking mercury gas for years. The family had been pillars of the local community and were well regarded in the region. But the son and his family had to pay millions in damages to families of over 300 deceased individuals who were never given their contracted cremation, yet all the while both father and son had suffered from devastating mercury poisoning on the job.
The truth is at hand for all of us regarding mercury and its disastrous effects. The truth is that no single person, regardless of their status in society, is immune from the effects of breathing mercury vapors. Not the President, or kings, or CEOs, or the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Low-income groups and people of color are most at risk in living near crematories and other industries. For every living creature who breathes the air, mercury contamination is an invisible disaster happening all around us.
At nearly two million cremations a year in the U.S., that's a lot of extremely toxic mercury released across America. Around the world, the number of cremations is in the multi-millions, and unknown tons of mercury are released annually. (Ironically, even after the Minamata Bay disaster, Japan now has a 99.9% rate of cremation, even with their heavy mercury body burdens from the Minamata Bay disaster.) In my own Naturopathic practice, I saw patients who were likely suffering from mercury-induced pollution causing a variety of symptoms, though not as severe as Minamata patients.
Mercury pollution is a silent and invisible killer—the worst of the air pollutants we breathe and the contaminated food we eat. According to the EPA and CDC, mercury causes childhood asthma and learning disorders, respiratory disease, and heart attacks in older people. (1 - (1) Environmental Protection Agency. 2020 National Emissions Inventory Technical Support Document: Miscellaneous NonIndustrial NEC: Cremation – Human and Animal.”Available at: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/NEI2020_TSD_Section29_Cremation.pdf) According to the IAOMT (International Academy of Oral and Medical Toxicology, there are hundreds of mercury-caused diseases, with studies in their on-line library to back up the science of 30 years. (2 - See https://files.iaomt.org/wp-content/uploads/Comprehensive-Review-Dental-Mercury.pdf)
With a lifetime ahead of them, children are especially at risk for mercury toxicity from industry emissions, consuming fish containing mercury, dental mercury, and from exposure while in utero. The EPA and CDC report that mercury is a cause of learning disorders (LDs), and 1 in 6 children now have LDs. Crematory emissions add to everyone’s mercury body burdens. (Photo: maginationpressfamily.org)
Mercury is not the only toxicant found in crematory vapors, although the EPA says mercury from dental fillings is the worst of the pollutants. In a review of the available studies, M. Montse and J. Domingo discuss the list of toxicants in their article “Toxic Emissions from Crematories” and found that: “Crematories have been identified as sources of various environmental pollutants, [these] being polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs), with mercury raising the most concern.” (3 - Montse M and J Domingo. “Toxic Emissions from Crematories: A Review” Env International, Vol 36 No 1, January 2010, 131-137.)
According to the review of studies, the common sources of these crematory pollutants are: mercury amalgam dental fillings which also contain copper, tin, and silver; dioxins from wood caskets; metal caskets and metal hardware; plastics from body bags, medical implants, and silicone breast implants, among the clearly identifiable objects. These sources release “the dirty dozen”:
mercury vapors
cancer-causing carbon monoxide
nitrogen oxide
sulfur oxide
volatile acids such as hydrogen chloride and
hydrogen fluoride, both of which form during vaporization of plastics
the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
Cancer-causing benzenes
furans
acetone which react with HCl and HF under combustion, and which cause cancer
Dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, or PCDDs) which cause cancer
and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), which cause cancer.
The article notes that the EPA finds no “safe” level for dioxin exposure, and the levels of dioxins and dioxin-like chemicals found in the general U.S. population were “at or near levels associated with adverse health effects.” Dioxins, like mercury, are considered to be in the top twelve most dangerous chemicals.
The conclusion of this crematory emissions meta study was: “Heavy metals [especially mercury] and PCDD/Fs stand out because of their toxicity and capacity for bioaccumulation, which means more risks for human health. Because of their toxicological properties, together with their persistence capacity, mercury and PCDD/Fs were listed by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants of 2001 as one of the “dirty dozen” pollutants whose levels should be significantly reduced.”
Crematory Industry Workers are Vulnerable to Mercury Exposure
Crematory workers tend to receive low pay for a job that is risky to their health. They also tend to be immigrants who are rarely informed of the hazards of working around intoxicant vapors. Warning signs from OSHA may be posted in the workplace, but if the employee doesn’t read English as a first language, they may not understand mercury’s toxicity, never mind the complex nature of mercury. Numerous cases of occupational toxicity don’t make it to national media attention, and only rarely do we get news of mercury’s “forever” toxic waste disasters.
One attorney in Georgia wrote in his local newspaper about the underlying intoxicant cause of criminal misdeeds perpetrated by his client, a young crematory operator who developed a severe case of mercury poisoning, historically called “Erethism.” The victim’s father, the owner of the crematory, eventually died due to a stroke and memory difficulties, caused by long-term work around a crematory oven pipe that was leaking mercury vapors into the air and embedding it in the walls and interior over a long period. His son, Ray-Brent Marsh, was imprisoned after three years of criminal acts at the crematory also caused by mercury poisoning. The Marsh family had been outstanding members in their community and hometown of Noble, Georgia for decades, offering low-cost cremations in the Tri-state area and other community services.
Ray-Brent Marsh suffered unknowingly from short-term mercury exposure with destructive consequences. Although he cremated the first two-thirds of the deceased who had contracts for cremation, the last third were not cremated. After Marsh returned from college and took over the business from his ailing father, he began to suffer from body aches, headaches, chronic insomnia, memory loss, and mental disturbances. All of these are signs of mercury toxicity, per the affidavit by mercury expert Dr. Haley. Marsh was sentenced to jail for 12 years after police investigators found 339 corpses that had been buried, stored in caskets or openly left in the back rooms of the crematory or in the surrounding woods and lake behind the crematory. His father, the Marsh family, and the whole community were all naturally shocked by this seemingly intentional behavior. After several years away from the contaminated workplace while in prison, he recovered from the mental effects of toxicity, though it is unknown if his bioaccumulations of mercury may reveal chronic neurological symptoms later in life.
His attorney, Mr. Poston wrote, “His [toxic] metals were all over the board. I was told by an expert at the University of Kentucky [Prof. Haley] this was indicative of mercury exposure.” Poston researched heavy metal toxicity and discovered that mercury fillings in the teeth of the deceased vaporize in the cremation process, which slowly would alter the judgment and mental functioning of Mr. Marsh. “I think it affected his thinking…The mercury exposure effectively caused the Mad Hatter syndrome [Erethism].”
Attorney Poston reported that the longer Marsh spent away from the Tri-State Crematory site, the more level-headed and clear he seemed. Poston continued to research mercury toxicity beyond the end of the criminal sentence:
“The crematory building itself has been destroyed, per federal court order, but it was well-documented…that the facility was in poor condition. These conditions included the well-documented layer of incinerated particulate matter within the structure and the inadequate crematory retort ventilation that caused it, evidenced by the many holes and separations in the system which allowed the burned particulate into the interior of the structure, where over a period of twenty years the father and son consecutively worked in the building and lived near the site. Also, well-documented in science and history are the multiple physiological and neurological effects that this dangerous and elusive neurotoxicant can create within the human body, a toxicant which can affect two or more victims in entirely different ways.”
Marsh was suffering from “Erethism,” a neurological disorder caused by several years of mercury inhalation, inducing neurological and behavioral symptoms. The World Health Organization defines Erethism as intense headaches, dizziness, generalized pain or body aches, chronic severe insomnia, irregular heartbeat or tremors, irritability, difficult social interactions, and other personality changes as seen in chronic mercury exposure from inhalation or skin exposures in industry workers.
Federal agencies like OSHA and NIOSH regulate industries and worker health, but there are few studies of mercury vapors and contamination within crematories. “OSHA regulates levels of mercury in the workplace. It has set limits of 0.1 milligrams of mercury per cubic meter of air (mg/m3) for organic mercury and 0.05 mg/m3 for metallic mercury vapor in workplace air to protect workers during an 8-hour shift and a 40-hour work week. NIOSH recommends that the amount of metallic mercury vapor in workplace air be limited to an average level of 0.05 mg/m3 during a 10-hour work shift. OSHA states that a so-called “safe” occupational continual mercury air level is 50 ug/m3 [50 micrograms/or 50 ppb per cubic meter of air.]
Meanwhile, in addition to industrial grade gloves, workers should be required to wear a HazMat suit, which protects the lungs, skin, and face, as it does in certified biological dentists who comply with mercury advisories from the IAOMT and OSHA.
What is particularly of concern is the fact that the low-paying job of an entry-level crematory technician may be filled by people of color or women, especially in urban facilities. Crematories tend to be built in industrial areas where low income populations reside. Urban crematories often have a dozen or more retorts (ovens), greatly increasing the exposure. In one Richmond, California neighborhood, the Black community was able to prevent the building of a crematory near their homes and children’s school. Their children but also their grandchildren were at risk through placental transmission.
Crematory vapors must be 100% filtered for mercury and “the dirty dozen”
In one of the few studies done of mercury crematory emissions in the U.S (and some in Europe), significant emissions were noted. In 1999, the EPA (along with the Cremation Association of North America) did a series of tests of emissions over several days from cremations at the Woodlawn Cemetery, located in The Bronx, New York, where they were testing new “water-scrubbing” filters. This was only one evaluation, and the crematory also had installed experimental filters, which few crematoria have installed as of 2023. Engineer Jon Reindl found that the Woodlawn study only reported the emissions in terms of grams per hour and no conversion is given for total releases, or air quality around the retorts. While mercury emissions were noted in the study, there was no discussion of other significant pollutants that scientists have found in crematory vapors.
In several letters from the EPA to Congress the following conclusions were drawn. (See Letter from Dennis Kucinich, Domestic Policy Subcommittee, Congress, to Lisa Jackson, EPA, January 15, 2010, Available at: https://no2crematory.wordpress.com/the-toxic-truth-data/)
The EPA recognizes that pollution from all sources of mercury is a serious concern to human health and the environment.
Mercury is well-documented as a toxic, environmentally persistent substance that demonstrates the ability for bioaccumulation and atmospheric transportation on a local, regional, and global scale.
There is evidence of … “serious health impacts from low-level exposure to mercury”
There are no state regulations on the sale or distribution of dental amalgam. Knowledge of mercury in fillings may drive future declines in use; however the expense of non-mercury fillings can affect patients’ preference for amalgam.
EPA acknowledges that mercury from amalgam is a source of controllable pollution; that mercury is released into the environment through cremation of bodies containing dental amalgam.
A worksheet from EPA in 2005 estimated that US emissions from crematoria to be 3,000 kilograms (6,613 lbs)No federal or state regulations restrict mercury emissions from crematoria.
EPA intends to update mercury emissions, but “does not intend to regulate human crematoria at this time.”
EPA has concluded that human crematories are not solid waste incinerators; therefore it was not appropriate to regulate them under Clean Air Act Section 129.
If in the future EPA concludes that crematoria should be regulated, other Clean Air Act Authorities could be used.
In a follow-up letter from Congress it is clear that crematoria should be federally regulated under the Clean Air Act, and that this is the way forward for the implementation of the Minamata Treaty of 2013. With the Minamata Treaty, one would expect that more policies and regulations of the cremation industry will be implemented to cope with the significant amounts of mercury that are emitted every day. It seems appropriate that the funeral industry should pay for 100% efficient mercury filters, not just “water scrubbers” used by some crematories that are too large to effectively filter out tiny two-micron mercury molecules. Certainly, the industry has the financial capacity to pay for the necessary filtration as required by the Clean Air Act. Even so, will these crematories become hazardous waste zones that will then have to be “detoxified” over time?
Because mercury is a “global pollutant” that affects local and international populations, it is critical that we take every precaution to regulate, filter, and confine it. Mercury has been found in interior concentrations in crematories due to dental mercury-silver filling vaporization but also mercury deposits lining the ovens and stored inside chimneys. Currently, the industry remains unregulated for mercury pollution by individual states. Funeral industry lobbyists remain powerful at the state and federal levels.
For the average American, it is not so easy to directly change mercury pollution from coal-burning or other industries. But we can have a huge impact by not choosing cremation, at least until mercury in crematories is federally regulated and fully filtered. The power of the individual is exponential as more people become informed about mercury and choose deathcare that is mercury-responsible. For example, Green Burial Council-certified natural and conservation burials allow mercury to percolate down deep into the earth over time from where it originated. For the time being, the choice of natural or conservation burials are the most environmentally-safe and mercury-responsible choice for deathcare, and as of 2023, it’s the preference of over 61% of Americans, according to the Green Burial Council.
JMTaylor.com photo