An Idaho state representative wants to build out the state’s law against cannibalism over fears that the composting of human remains could lead to humans consuming other humans.
Republican Heather Scott floated a bill on Thursday that would make it illegal to serve “the flesh and blood of another human being” to someone who does not know or consent to it, The Idaho Statesman reports. Idaho already outlaws cannibalism and is the only state to do so, even though other states have laws that punish abuse of corpses.
Human composting is legal in some states because it can be more eco-friendly than other methods like cremation. But rather than target composting, which would require a rewrite of rules for morticians, Scott figured it would be easier to expand the cannibalism law.
She was apparently inspired by a clip from a prank TV show she had seen, in which personalities pretended to feed people human flesh in sausage links. “They didn’t tell the people, they fed it to them,” she told the Statesman.
I mean the only issue I can think of with human composting is maybe potential prison diseases if the compost is used to farm food.
The risk of prion diseases are low. Prions are proteins and do biodegrade. The product of composting is dirt, which we -normally- don’t eat, which lowers the risk even lower.
This Canadian study found a low risk of BSE (aka mad cow disease) after composting BSE infected biomaterials. They concluded that it’s a viable option for disposal of such waste.