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Posted: 23-08-2002 15:03 Post subject: Human ashes and LifeGem

Reuters UK

Diamonds are forever-you could be too
Wed Aug 21, 4:41 PM ET
By Brad Dorfman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - They say diamonds are forever. And now the dearly departed can be, too.

A Chicago company says it has developed a process for turning cremated human remains into diamonds that can be worn as jewelry.

"We're building on the simple fact that all living creatures are carbon-based and diamonds are carbon-based," said Greg Herro, head of LifeGem Memorials.

The blue diamonds are the answer to people who think a tombstone or an urn full of ashes is not personal enough. And they are portable, Herro said.

Herro, who describes himself as an entrepreneur, said he has spent the past three years refining the process, successfully making a diamond from cremated human remains in July.

A small thimbleful of carbon can be made into 0.25 carat diamond, for which LifeGem would charge $4,000 (2,600 pounds). A full karat would cost $22,000.

HEAT AND PRESSURE

The ash is first purified in a vacuum induction furnace at 3,000 degrees Celsius (about 5,400 F). It is then placed in a press under intense pressure and heat, replicating the forces that create a natural diamond. It takes about 16 weeks.

Synthetic, or man-made, diamonds have been manufactured from carbon since the mid-1950s, when General Electric developed the process for making small diamonds for industrial uses.

Avrum Blumberg, a chemistry professor at DePaul University in Chicago, said it is feasible to make a quality diamond from the carbon in a cremated human.

"If it's done slowly and with a great deal of care, one could have a reasonably high-quality diamond," Blumberg said.

In a telephone interview, Herro said his diamonds are of the same quality that "you would find at Tiffany's."

He said that he has had two of the diamonds certified for quality by European Gemological Laboratory, an independent laboratory that vouches for the quality of diamonds. The diamonds were submitted anonymously by a partner who sells synthetic diamonds to avoid any bias in the appraisals.

In a news release, Herro said that EGL would certify LifeGem's diamonds, though EGL said it has no formal relationship with LifeGem.

"At this time, EGL USA does not have enough information about this new product to comment about the use of the EGL name in conjunction with it." Mark Gershburg, director of EGL USA, said in a prepared statement in response to inquiries. But he said it is impossible to distinguish LifeGem synthetic diamonds from other synthetic diamonds.

A SERVICE FOR THE FAMILY

LifeGem's Web site lists a handful of funeral homes in the United States that will offer the service to customers.

One is Fergerson Funeral Home in North Syracuse, New York. Funeral director Patricia Fergerson said nobody has asked that a loved one be turned into a diamond yet. But the funeral home sees this as another service it can offer.

Meanwhile, an Illinois man with emphysema has signed up with LifeGem.

About 26 percent of U.S. residents who died were cremated last year. But Herro has his eye on a growth market. "Japan is at 98 percent," he said.

sakina

Surprised

Posted: 24-08-2002 07:44 Post subject:

Not only could you pass on the family jewels, you could BE them.

Posted: 24-08-2002 08:36 Post subject:

Despite what the university prof says, this sounds decidedly dodgy to me. The whole point of cremation is to burn the body, converting its carbon into carbon dioxide (and some monoxide), which then escapes into the atmosphere. (That's why crematoria have chimneys!)

The ash is the incombustible residue, mainly minerals from bones, I'd guess, and would contain very little carbon.

Sounds like a con to sell overpriced diamonds, whether real or artificial.

Posted: 24-08-2002 14:13 Post subject:

Indeed, I seem to recall that cremators have a device specifically for grinding the bones into powder, which I would suspect the majority of the ashes is actually composed of. I remember thinking "Hmm, this sounds rather suspect" when I first visited the website of the company a couple of days ago, but didn't give it any more thought Smile

Posted: 24-08-2002 14:53 Post subject:

I've been wearing my father's remains around my neck for the last
eight years. So this cremation and compression lark seems a bit of a
cop out to me. Do it properly if you want to remember them! :p

Posted: 24-08-2002 18:16 Post subject:

That's an unusually cryptic response from JW. (Or am I just somewhat enpisculated? Well, it is Penryn Fair Day after all!)

Can someone explain it it words of one syllable for the (temporarily) handicapped?

JW, you're not a head-shrinker, are you?

First thing I thought of when I heard this story was cheap science fiction in which "living crystals" contain the "essences" of various "life forms" and all that.

We're on the way to fulfilling bad science fiction.

Ignominy R us.

Posted: 24-08-2002 23:04 Post subject:

Glad you had a good Fair Day, rynner. I was only meditating on the
horridness of wearing human remains around one's neck without the
processes to render them gem-like.

Silly joke but at least I didn't do the one about the caul. Wink