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JANUARY 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
Funeral Directors Research,Inc.
AMRA INSTRUMENT,
LLC
623 N. Tower (P.O. Box 359)
Centralia, WA 98531
“the shorter the supply line the better off you are”
WEB DIRECT GIFT & PRICING
TM
®
Design
Products
Ventilation
Specializing in
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877.832.6898
i n f o@du n c a n s t u a r t t odd . c om
t h e p r e pa r at i on r oom s p e c i a l i s t s
month disability leave in October 2011 for treatment. When he
returned he was transferred to their Brick Township facility and
removed from embalming duties. He has sued O’Brien Funeral
Home.
Moore didn’t stop there. He has named
Dodge Chemical
Company
, headquartered in Cambridge, MA and several other
manufacturers of embalming fluids.
The NewJerseyNewsroom.com reports that: “In the lawsuit,
Moore contends manufacturers of the embalming fluid knew
or should have known their products raised the cancer risk for
people with higher levels of formaldehyde exposure, according
to the
Bergen Record
.
The suit alleges Moore’s employer failed to provide him with
“accommodations” such as improving the ventilation or trans-
ferring him to the company’s newer Ocean County facility, the
Bergen Record reported.”
Moore’s attorney, Robert A. Tandy of Montvale, told the Ber-
gen Record his client “wasn’t asking to refrain from doing any
duty associated with a funeral director, but was asking for an ac-
commodation to help him perform the functions of his job.”
I asked
Melissa Johnson Williams
, executive director of the
American Society of Embalmers
about Mr. Moore’s premise of the
culpability of the embalming fluid manufacturers. Ms. Williams
stated that we have mandated Material Safety Data Sheets with
disclosures of any dangers and that New Jersey has required its
licensees to receive OSHA training for the last 15 years. If there
is any preparation room ventilation inadequacy it is an issue be-
tweenMr. Moore and his employer, not with the chemical com-
panies.
This complaint will be watched carefully from all sides. This is-
sue has been taken to a new level. Funeral Home owners beware,
warranted or not, this scrutiny is upon us. To avoid being anoth-
er firm being served under a similar complaint, be proactive, en-
sure your OSHA compliance and communicate with your em-
ployees.
Dr. Watson: [as he watches Sherlock drinking Formaldehyde]
You’re drinking embalming fluid? You do seem…
Sherlock Holmes: Excited?
Dr. Watson: Manic.
Sherlock Holmes: I am.
Dr. Watson: Verging on…
Sherlock Holmes: Ecstatic?
Dr.Watson: Psychotic. [Pauses] I should’ve brought you a sedative.
–
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
(2011)
Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors
graduate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences.
He has been licensed on both coasts, he owns the Westcott Funeral
Homes of Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ. Steve offers his obser-
vations on current funeral service issues. He may be reached by mail
at PO Box 352, Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-
9566, by fax at (928)634-5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuner-
alhome.com or through his website a
com or on Facebook.
Observations
The Fight over
Formaldehyde
Laurie Mills: They said it’s only right and proper that I should give
Luke a good Christian funeral. Fill him with formaldehyde and
plaster down his hair so good Christian folk can come look at him
on display like at a wax museum. –
Death of a Gunfighter
(1969)
Of the 650,000 killed during the civil war, 40,000 were
embalmed to be returned to their loved ones. The fluid that
flowed in those post mortem arteries was comprised of mer-
cury, arsenic, alcohol, zinc chloride, creosote, turpentine and
various forms of alcohol and other chemicals. Formaldehyde
was not used widely until the 1890s.
Embalming during the civil war (returning fallen soldiers to
their families) was popular, but fell far from typical use after
the war.
It gained more popularity as people looked to others (than
neighbors and unrelated business people) to handle their de-
ceased and to allow for out of town relatives and friends to at-
tend services.
Formaldehyde was now a premier element of embalming fluid.
It would later become a chief target of health officials.
At a funeral home I first worked for with over a century of heri-
tage, the principals told me of the old embalming in the house
days. They would move the deceased (if permitted) to the bath-
tub and perform the embalming procedure using hand pumps to
inject pungent formaldehyde laced fluids. There were always cu-
rious relatives that wanted to peek in to see the embalming proce-
dures. The funeral director/embalmers would put a shallow pan
of acrid cavity fluid right inside the door so that when the inquis-
itive relative would look in, a whiff of the preservative chemical
made for a quick withdrawal from the area.
The sixties brought scrutiny of the embalming procedure, not
because of its toxic dangers, but of its aesthetics.
Jessica Mitford
questioned the result of the embalmed appearance of the de-
ceased. The chemicals used were not criticized in the same fash-
ion then.
At the late part of the last century, Occupational Safety and
Hazard Administration (OSHA) decided that formaldehyde, in
all of its applications, needed sharp scrutiny and that would in-
clude the embalming procedure and its chemicals.
Formaldehyde has been vindicated (in safe use) and indicted (in
any use) by various organizations.
The United States manufactures 8.2 million pounds of form-
aldehyde per year. Through less regulated countries we im-
port a lot more.
It is present in the photographic development process and
many personal hygiene and cosmetic products. It has always
been an important part of leather tanning, in fabric preserva-
tion, in paper products to give strength to tissues, napkins and
paper towels. Formaldehyde is very commonly found in home
construction (especially manufactured and mobile homes). It is
present prominently in wood and particle board construction,
glues, resins and in insulation.
As we heard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) “trailers” that were to provide temporary housing to
Louisiana residents after Hurricane Katrina had Formaldehyde
levels that were reportedly too high for habitancy.
Formaldehyde has begun to pop up on many agencies carcin-
ogen lists. National Toxicology Program, International Agency
for Research on Cancer, OSHA, National Institute of Safety and
Health and American Industrial Hygiene Association all con-
cluded that unprotected and excessive exposure to formaldehyde
could lead to certain types of cancer.
Formaldehyde was also linked to asthma-like problems and
skin irritations. Skin and eye splashes were also of concern to
regulatory agencies.
Embalming fluid, containing formaldehyde came under direct
scrutiny of the federal regulators. OSHA demanded air quality
tests in the embalming room to be performed and document-
ed on a regular basis, especially when new embalmers were em-
ployed. Ventilation became a hot topic with the movement of air
and at what height level the ventilation should be.
PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) became the standard
wear in the embalming room. Gowns, gloves (heaven forbid not
latex) face shields, beard covers, shoe covers and covers for any
other body part. Respirators were another piece of equipment
the owner or supervising embalmer had to endure to meet fed-
eral standards.
Material Safety Data Sheets on formaldehyde products or any
chemical products became a standard in the preparation room.
In 2009 The World Health Organization and the Nation-
al Cancer Institute determined that embalmers who have been
practicing their trade for over 20 years using high levels of pre-
servative chemicals containing formaldehyde are more likely to
develop myeloid leukemia.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to the Mayo Clin-
ic, “is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow— the spongy tis-
sue inside bones where blood cells are made. The word ‘acute’ in
acute myelogenous leukemia denotes the disease’s rapid progres-
sion. It’s called myelogenous (my-uh-LOHJ-uh-nus) leukemia
because it affects a group of white blood cells called the myeloid
cells, which normally develop into the various types of mature
blood cells, such as red blood cells, white blood cells and plate-
lets.”
William Moore
, 38, of Secaucus, New Jersey, an embalm-
er/funeral director with the
O’Brien Funeral Home
received
the diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia. He took a nine
Hilda Basham, right, with her daughter Sandra Feazell,
looks over the cemetery landscape Tuesday with new owner,
Donald Wilson.
Evergreen Trust Purchases Mountain View Cemetery
in Vinton, Virginia
VINTON,VA—
Evergreen
Development Compa-
ny, Inc
., of Roanoke, VA,
has purchased
Mountain
View Cemetery Compa-
ny, Inc
. of Vinton.
Donald Wilson
, presi-
dent of Evergreen Devel-
opment, says Evergreen
plans to invest in a num-
ber of improvements at
the Vinton site, includ-
ing new landscaping and
perimeter fencing.
Hilda
Basham
, president and
owner of Mountain View
Cemetery, has decided to
retire, but the four-per-
son staff will remain em-
ployed at the cemetery,
which is about a quarter
occupied, Wilson said.
In addition to Roa-
noke’s Evergreen Burial
Park,
Evergreen Memo-
rial Trust
, the holding
company’s new name,
owns
and
operates
Mountain View Me-
morial Park
and
For-
est Rest Cemeteries
in
Boones Mill, and
Green
Hill Mausoleum
in Bue-
na Vista.