This thread is in response to a thread on the effect of burying dead bodies on private land on real estimate.
https://www.nairaland.com/7099677/nigeria-should-ban-interment-dead

The reason of opening this thread is to bring to fore the health implication of this old practice and maybe to have a robust discussion about it.

Let's get straight to it.

1. Preparing and preservation of corpses for burial required the use of toxic chemicals. These chemical leach into the air and soil, and could be hazardous.

This could also be mitigated with the use of less toxic chemicals.

2. Aside the possibility of direct harm to those preparing the corpse for burial, these chemicals can seep into water supplies or harm wildlife. This might be a big problem given the rate at which private wells are being dug these days. Using casket or vault does not solve the problem of the decomposing body leaching into the soil.

However, this can be prevented if the body is not buried close to important aquifer. This is where government sanctioned cemetery is of importance, since it is believed that responsible authority would have checked this before locating a cemetery in the area.

3. As pointed out in the previous thread, burying in private lands use up potential land for farming mostly in some rural areas, with potential effect on food production.

In some rural areas this is not really an issues as most graves are unmarked and people do farm on such site.

I once witness a case where a family was digging the family land to bury their grandmother and in the process unearthed a bone. An elder in the compound told us it was likely the site where one of their family member that died long time ago was buried. They did a small rite, re-buried the bone and started digging on a new location to bury their grandmother.

The issue of spread of epidemics from such practices is highly unlikely as most disease causing bacteria cannot survive in a corpse for a long time. Except for viruses like HIV that have been shown to have lasted for as long as 16 hour after the dead of the victim. However, the risk associated in contacting it from a buried corpse is very unlikely. Furthermore, the bacteria that are responsible for the decomposition of a corpse are different from organism that are responsible for disease in human.

Using a quote from the British Emergency Sanitation manual " In general, the cultural practices and needs of the families of the deceased should be given priority over public health concerns", as long as the dead body is properly handled during burial.

https://www.businessinsider.com/burying-dead-bodies-environment-funeral-conservation-2015-10?r=US&IR=T
https://funerals.org/?consumers=dead-bodies-disease-danger-doesnt-exist
https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/resources/books/Emergency_Sanitation_-_Ch_09.pdf
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/faq/health-bodies-140110.htm

Guys what are your opinions?