Natural organic reduction, or human composting, a practice meant to turn bodies into fertile soil, is sparking talks of further cannibalism bans in the Idaho Legislature. Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, moved to expand cannibalism laws in the state over her human composting concerns.
Idaho already has laws on the books banning cannibalism. The law, passed in 1990, makes Idaho the only state in the U.S. to outright ban cannibalism. But Rep. Scott said the law needs to go further to include anyone who “willfully provides flesh and blood to another person to ingest” without their knowledge or consent.
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Scott said her campaign to expand the law came after seeing an episode of David Spade’s prank show “Fameless” where a chef pretended to use human flesh as an ingredient in the sausage he fed to contestants.
Scott added that her other concern is human composting, a practice legal in several states, including Idaho’s neighbor Washington, which was the first state to legalize the practice in 2019.
“I wanted to address this because what I didn’t want to see is bags of compost with human bone fragments,” Scott said.
Human composting is a natural process that turns human bodies into nutrient-rich soil.
Similar to composting food scraps, advocates said, human composting provides a more sustainable alternative to death care than traditional burials and cremations and reduces a person’s carbon footprint.
According to the Green Burial Council Inc., in the United States, 1.74 billion pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted into the air every year due to cremations. Still, critics like Scott said they don’t want human remains in their food supply.
According to advocates, what is left after the composting process is one cubic yard of soil, which is offered back to the family of the deceased. Despite the controversy, more states are considering the greener end-to-life alternative. A bill in Delaware to allow human composting passed in the House and is now moving to the Senate.
