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Comment by leereeves | Hacker News Reader

I'd probably choose this method of entering eternity if it was available where I live, but still I wonder: is this safe?

Edit: Ok, I better clarify, I was thinking of the risk of infectious diseases and other toxins to the people still alive.

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Aerobic composting done right largely sterilizes the compost pile. It kills most harmful bacteria (and in the case of garden compost, weed seeds) because the pile heats to a really high temperature (140F+).

What about prions? Would they be eliminated by this method?

Likely not, however as I posted elsewhere in this thread, those with confirmed or suspected CJD would fall under other public health laws regarding handling of the deceased.

Prions aren't eliminated by any of our burial methods anyway. I think the best thing you can hope for is preventing animals from eating contaminated tissue. That wouldn't be an issue with any legal method of human remains disposal.

Aren't prions eliminated by cremation?

Ah yeah you're right. I knew they couldn't be destroyed by an autoclave, and I misunderstood what exactly those do. They're only pressure and heat above boiling (120*C).

Note that cremation produces its own human-health, especially in the form of mercury output from vaporized dental amalgams.

Yeah, I feel like a lot of religious practices (burial being one of them) originated from things that were a detriment to society or seen as "unclean" and that caused infection, diseases, or maybe just a bad stench. I wonder if long ago our ancestors learned a lesson about this that they codified in religion, but forgot the "why" part and now we are just going to repeat history.

> I wonder if long ago our ancestors learned a lesson about this that they codified in religion, but forgot the "why" part and now we are just going to repeat history.

That, combined with the desire but not the means to explain things they didn't understand, is religion in a nutshell.

Our ancestors didn't have microbiology. As long as we pay attention to the science, we won't be repeating history.

The debate is not whether we are more knowledgeable than our ancestors, the debate is are we any wiser*.

Okay, but the same applies to eating pork.

As long as we actually understand the underlying reasons why these practices were forbidden, and have addressed them, then it's okay to eat pork.

These issues have been studied, and composting is a pretty safe form of disposal as long as it's done properly.

It's very tempting to tell "just so" stories like this, but from the perspective of an infectious disease epidemiologist, cultural and religious practices, including burials, aren't consistently "good" from a disease standpoint. It's about 50/50 whether it helps or hurts.

As long as you're completely dead, it's definitely safe for you =)

For everything else that lives and dies on this planet, it's sort of the natural order of things.

Seems like you have little to lose. You're not going to die again, after all.

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