How dangerous is embalming?
Actually, the main danger is to embalmers, who are at risk for certain types of cancer and other diseases. Likewise, there’s a certain risk inherent simply in manufacturing and transporting a toxic chemical. But by the time a body is in the ground, the formaldehyde in the embalming fluid has broken down into carbon, oxygen, and water—or so we understand it! True, there are still wells and streams near old cemeteries being polluted by the arsenic that, many years ago, was used to embalm the dead. But we know of no research that shows current danger.
