The Swedish government wants to try out freeze drying as an ecological alternative to casket funeral and cremation, according to an article in Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, February 15 this year.
The member of cabinet Lena Hallengren commented the form of funeral in Svenska Dagbladet after a question in the Parliament.
— So far I view the trials in Jönköping very positively. We have looked at the juridical aspects, and there is room for a trial set within the bounds of Swedish legislature. We hope that more Swedish parishes keep up to date with the events in Jönköping, and nothing prevents others from performing independent trials.
On behalf of the Swedish Church, archbishop KG Hammar welcomes the open attitude of the government towards trials, and deems that the Swedish Church had its principal debate already 100 years ago, when cremation was introduced.
— Burning or freezing are both processes that accelerate decomposition, there is no ethical distinction between hot and cold, says KG Hammar to Svenska Dagbladet.
— Only by Jönköping's trial can we gain more knowledge. A new technique is always reviewed with extra care, and there are elements in all methods that are less pleasant, also in cremation.
The news about the government's favourable attitude spread quickly around the world, among others to New Zealand television and to the pediodical New Scientist. In Swedish knowledge tests about current events in ninth grade, a multichoice question about the specifics of the new method was included.
During the winter, technique development has made great progress. Meanwhile, development of a secure and beautiful dust casket has proceeded further. The technique development now commences a stricter phase with hightened intensity in order to keep up the pace with increased interest from all over the world. (It is remarkable to see how large seems to be the need for a new alternative.)
Prommesa's network in the Netherlands and Germany is growing and evolving in synch with the rising interest for promession. A number of information meetings with interested parties in these countries have been scheduled during spring.
In Sweden, Promessa will participate in this year's House and Garden Fair at Elmia in Jönköping, April 14-17.
In collaboration with the parish of Jönköping, the first parish in Sweden which will have a promatorium, the goal is on one hand to illustrate the organic and on the other to show how a future graveyard may look.
Since 2005 is the Designers' Year, we also hope that architects and designers with connections to Promessa will want to participate and show their suggestions for a dust casket and a model of how a promatorium might look.
Raising the stakes a bit are NASA, who are considering Promessas suggested method on board their drafted space travels.
In the project "Body Back", Danish deisgners commissioned by NASA have gone through different methods for handling deceased in space. In their report to NASA they suggest promession as the best method available for space travel. Only the future will tell whether NASA settles for this method.
More information about this and about the "Body Back"-projekt can be found at Promessa Foundation / Promessa in space
We are happy that more and more people find our homepage. Since the beginning, we have had more than 6,000 unique visitors. Nation-wise, in decreasing magnitude, the most visits are from Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, USA and Germany.
The web page of Promessa is being updated regularly. For further information, visit us at www.promessa.se
You can also order the book "Stiff" by American author Mary Roach. Its Swedish title is "Kroppens s\uffff?llsamma liv efter d\uffffden -- Likets kulturhistoria."
Promessa Organic AB
