NL to allow dissolving your body as an alternative to burial, cremation

Netherlands residents will soon be able to choose to have their body dissolved in a chemical liquid after their death, as an alternative to burial and cremation. The government will make this option legally possible, Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs said to AD on Tuesday.

With "alkaline hydrolysis", the body is dissolved after death in a hot, chemical liquid. The method is already used in Canada, Australia, and some US states. In May this year, the Health Council advised adding alkaline hydrolysis to the list of funeral options, calling it a "safe, dignified, and sustainable" technique.

"In the funeral industry and parliament, but also among Dutch citizens, there has been interest in alkaline hydrolysis for years," Ollongren said to the newspaper. "Bay laying this down in law now, people will soon be able to choose this new form of funeral services."

This will be the first time in years that a new funeral option is added to the list. The last time was in 1955, when cremation became legal. The Netherlands currently has four funeral options - burial, cremation, the seaman's grave, and making the body available to science.