City governments mine precious metals from cremated bodies
Ever wonder what happened to grandma’s gold teeth? If she lived in Japan, there’s a chance that a city government made money by sifting through ashes of her cremated body and taking out precious metals:
The Asahi Shimbun asked officials of 20 major cities about the practice. Tokyo and Nagoya said they collect and sell precious metals taken from the remains. Niigata, Maebashi and Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, said they sell residual ashes and bone fragments.
The amount of bones collected by mourners at funerals varies by region. Most of the residual ashes and bone fragments left behind are handled by private businesses.
The Tokyo metropolitan government collected 700 grams of gold, 500 grams of palladium and 1.9 kilograms of silver from cremated remains in fiscal 2007, and turned a profit of about 3.2 million yen, officials said. The metropolitan government also pocketed about 90,000 yen worth of coins that were placed in the coffins before cremation.
An official at a metropolitan crematorium in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward said mourners sometimes ask about the final destination of the ashes, but officials do not go out of their way to provide an explanation.
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