Aardbalm--Green Hype or Green Hope???

Among the pile of materials returned with me from the convention, I come across a brochure for Aardbalm: Preserving & Protecting Naturally. On the back I see the Pierce Chemicals Royal Bond logo and address along with the words "available 2008". So no, this fluid will not become available for at least several months.

On the inside of the brochure only limited information such as the following:

"AARDBalm is a non-toxic embalming chemical designed from within the funeral industry for the funeral industry. The design criteria being to develop a product that is environmentally safe, non toxic and non carcinogenic."

"After years of research and development AARDBalm is a proven product currently in daily use throughout various European countries"

"It will not dehydrate the body, its properties will naturally rehydrate thus providing a more natural appearance of the deceased"

I don't know about you but when I hear vague phrases like "currently in daily use throughout various European countries", alarm bells start going off. So I've done a little bit of research.

Aardbalm has a United Kindom website which contains a material safety data sheet and an instructions manual which does seem to spell out some of the use and limitations for this fluid.

If I read this correctly, the primary active ingredient seems to be the disinfectant Iodine. That seems consistent with an item in the instruction book which says, "AARDBalm is not a long-term embalming solution. It is a sanitising process post death pre-burial/cremation." It goes on to say, "It will not dehydrate the body, its properties will naturally rehaydrate thus providing a more natural appearance of the deceased." All in all, it sounds like a non-formaldehyde injectible disinfectant solution designed to temporarily arrest the activity of bacteria in the remains. It certainly won't pull fluids out of an edemetous body and even if it slows down decomposition, there would still be many trade-offs in terms of lost firmness for cosmetic and reconstructive needs.

I would love to see one of the funeral service schools take this on as an independent research project where we can get a complete understanding of what a chemical like this can do.

I will post links to all the documents below and let the technical experts out there give this a closer look. Perhaps someone in the UK who has experience with this product will take a few minutes to leave a comment.

http://www.aardbalm.co.uk/

Download Aardbalm_safety_data_sheet_complete.pdf

Download aardbalm_instructions_sept_2007.pdf

Comments

[Michelle]

I'm always a bit amazed that in this day and age, we don't have safer and more environmentally-friendly chemicals to work with.

Even if this particular fluid doesn't work, I hope it's a sign that better things are in the pipeline.

[Andrew Platts]

Anything that is safer should be welcome.
Just for general interest there are let's of embalming issues discussed at http://funerals.smfforfree2.com

[Cynthia Beal]

Hi there,

Yes, I saw this product, too. I've been tracking Aardbalm for some time now, and am glad to see Pierce has taken it on in the states.

Just today I spoke with a funeral director near me who also teaches embalming at a local mortuary sciences school. He'd never heard of it before. He's agreed to try it out, so I'm contacting Pierce to make sure that they get it to him.

I think that testing this product in schools makes consummate sense - any young people who are performing embalmings should definitely minimize their exposure to the known carcinogens in conventional embalming fluid; a school environment is a much less risky place to learn what the strengths and shortcomings of this substance are; and finally, the young people I'm speaking to who want to learn mortuary science are also EXTREMELY interested in doing whatever they can do to "go green."

When the forward thinking embalmers who want to support this more natural option step up to the plate and begin calling for this sort of research, as well as doing it on their own, we're that much further ahead in our work to reduce the manufacture and use of less-than-necessary chemicals, so thank you for writing this post and bringing up this question.

I'll be sending this link to a few other funeral directors I know who are considering using Aardbalm, as well as the company itself; perhaps they'll post their feedback here, and a bit of dialog could be started over time.

best,

Cynthia Beal
Natural Burial Company
USA

[Richard Holdsworth]

Hello, and first let me say that i'm very pleased that our product is becoming known worldwide and the debate regarding the quest to find new and safe non-toxic alternatives to Formalin based fluids is well and truly underway worldwide. I should at this point let you know my position, i'm the Sales & Marketing Manager for AARDBalm Ltd. I can tell you that our product is used on a daily basis in the UK by a good number of Embalmers and this has been the case for the last three years. We have in that time constantly improved and developed the product and we are continuing to do so. I know from our Website stats that we have a lot of visits from the USA & Canada as well as from around the world, in fact we have more hits to our site from the USA than we do from the UK. We have just submitted our product to a very prominent college of mortuary science in the USA for trials to be completed and we will keep you informed on our progress on our website. If anybody wants to know more about our products then you can look at our website for information and if you would like to know more then please get in touch through our website and we will be very pleased to help.

Regards
Richard

[Hans G Brüggener]

Just a few words from Sweden.
I have tried Aardbalm, and can say I was surprised when I saw just how good the results can be. Even advanced decomposition can be treated. There will always be cases that need formaldehyde (like those of repatriation, special diseases etc) but for the everyday cases, Aardbalm works fine and there is no irritation of eyes or throat while working, which feels good when working long shifts. I will keep using Aardbalm as often as possible.

Best whishes to all our colleagues!

Hans B./Anapath International

[Samantha Francis]

I'm a student of mortuary science at Cypress College in Southern California and in our embalming labs we have used AARDBalm a few times, my teacher liked the results. So far I haven't learned much about the embalming process (mostly primary disinfection, next semester i will get into secondary and third) But I'm sure if you contact the school my embalming professor will be glad to discuss it with you. I'd also like to say that it's exciting to be a student now and see new developments in the industry.

~Samantha Francis

[Hans G Brüggener]

Update: Since my last comment, embalmer Frances C and I have put AARDBalm through some pretty rough tests. We have never experienced problems with blistering, something other funeral directors said could be a problem, or anything besides satisfying results. In Stockholm, it is not uncommon that a funeral is delayed for >5 weeks, and we might get the embalming order after 10 days - our doctors have 9 days to decide if they want to perform an autopsy or not. We have therefore been able to monitor the embalmed body for 5 full weeks, and we still haven't seen any signs of decomposition. My opinion is that AARDBalm works fine, and if their team continue testing and developing their products, I will use them as much as possible.

Best wishes to all our colleagues!

[Hans G Brüggener]

If I can be of any assistance, feel free to contact me at Anapath_@hotmail.com! I would like to keep in touch with fellow workers and students.
Ms Samantha Francis, do you want me to contact Cypress College? In that case, please reply to the adress above.

Regards, Hans Brüggener

[US Funerals Online]

We have just started a new funeral blog to run along side our funeral homes directory site.
http://www.us-funerals.com

[Hans G Brüggener]

Just a few words of warning: Anapath International has recently been threatened by a Nigerian Funeral Fraud; a Jeff Morinson has contacted us, as well as a number of other funeral directors and mortuaries in several countries. This mr. Morinson claims that he wants the body of his dead father to be repatriated and that he needs help to extract money from a Master Card to pay for a KLM transport from "Partlife Mortuary" in Nigeria to the "home country".

None of this is true, and I am glad I found that out before I got into trouble. So, beware of Nigerian e-mails like this, especially if they are signed Jeff Morinson. Best wishes & stay safe!
Hans G Brüggener

[DENISE]

Hello, I am a Funeral Director in NJ and have had the amazing opportunity to use this product. I have done over 10 cases and each one gets better as I get more comfortable with this product. It is great. My familys are amazed and over joyed at the use of a non toxic product. I also have met with people from this company and they are amazing at explaining and teaching. Please if you get the chance use it. You may never use the F stuff again.

[Michael Breneman]

I'm not an embalmer- I work in marketing. My firm is seriously looking to offer AARDBalm on request. But I wonder, what makes the product a "green" option and "non-toxic." I realize that formaldehyde contains many know cancer causing agents that AARDBalm does not. This certainly makes the product beneficial to the embalmer, but what makes it "green" and environmentaly friendly?

[Hans Brüggener]

About the environmental friendliness of AARDBalm;

Well, thanks for bringing the subject to our attention
Michael Breneman. I have come to the conclusion that it the solution dissolves into water and salts with only a few residues of other material after a burial. After creamation, it turns to steam and spreads nothing that can cause damage to the environment. I still use formalin for highly infectious cases, but are turning towards dehydration there. But you don't want to mess with
Virus-Related Encephalitis, so...
But, I hope to have answered your question to
some extent.
Regards, HB

[A. Navarrette]

I am an embalmer in NM, and have had the opportunity to use this product, under the direct instruction and supervision of a UK representative. The initial injecton of the fluid went well. Although, the coloring didn't change much. The case in question passed on a Friday evening, embalming was performed on Saturday morning. By Monday morning, there was darkening of the flesh and excessive skin slip and blistering. The case was reaspirated 5 times and we eventually had to embalm with the 'real' stuff. There was an excess of discoloration and odor. I would not be willing to use this product again. Myself and my fellow fs peers were very discouraged by the performance of this product. Needless to say, the case had to be placed in a unionall in order to have services on Wednesday night.

[Jon Stephenson]

Good day all!
I am an embalmer in Canada and I am wondering if Aardbalm has had any usage here?
J Stephenson
New Brunswick

[Benjamin]

It is great to know that there is an alternative to toxic chemicals. I hope that these products get the testing that they deserve.