Regulatory authorities should take more of an interest in the burning of human bodies.

Porter Creek resident D'Arcy LaCoste said in an interview earlier this week he feels the territory's medical officer of health, Bryce Larke, and Department of Environment officials should be taking a greater interest in a crematorium proposal near the Alaska Highway by Chris Thompson, the owner of Heritage North Funeral Homes.

LaCoste said he believes the first-ever proposed crematorium in the territory should be covered under the Public Health and Safety Act and/or the Environment Act. He is puzzled the only authority in the Yukon that seems to be considering the proposal is city council.

Thompson is currently before council seeking zoning approval to build a crematorium near Willow Printers on Centennial Street in Porter Creek.

'It's 500,000 BTUs (British Thermal Units) larger than the one at the hospital, and the hospital requires a permit,' he said.

LaCoste said he can't understand why a human body would not require a waste permit if it was going to be burned when pieces of corpses appear to require one.

'They don't want to call it waste. If a human body isn't waste, what is it?

'If we don't bury it or burn it, it becomes toxic. No one will disagree with that,' he said.

'It hasn't been regulated because nobody wants to call it human waste.'

LaCoste said he also believes the proposed crematorium would lead to ice fog when temperatures drop below - 30 C and affect driving conditions and residents' enjoyment of their properties.

'I'm going to be wiping Aunt Nelly off my windshield,' he said.

According to Bill Miller, a weather specialist with Environment Canada, Whitehorse receives an average of 22.3 days a year where the mercury drops below -30, usually occurring in December, January and February.

'That's the absolute lowest. It can get warmer than that during the day,' he said.

Earlier this year the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) began reviewing Thompson's project.

An April 27 notice by YESAB assessor Keith Maguire said the board stopped its assessment because the crematorium did not 'trigger' a review.

'(The) Heritage North Funeral Home Crematorium has been deemed not to be an assessable project based on new information provided by the Yukon Government, the Decision Body for the project,' Maguire's notice states.

The review was stopped because the Department of Environment said the crematorium did not require a permit, which triggers a review, so YESAB had no jurisdiction to look into the crematorium, Maguire noted.

According to the Yukon government submission to YESAB, the project does not require a permit because human bodies are not considered solid waste nor special waste.

'Environment Yukon has determined that the above noted crematorium does not meet any legislative criteria which would require a permit under the Environment Act.

'Human carcasses are not considered a solid waste as defined in the Solid Waste Regulations; therefore, no solid waste permit is required.

'The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Guidelines for Management of Biomedical Waste in Canada do not apply to intact human remains'; therefore, no special waste permit is required under the Special Waste Regulations.'

Dennis Senger, the spokesperson for the Department of Environment, said this morning while his department does regulate the incineration of human body parts and animal carcasses, human bodies are not covered under the Environment Act.

'They're not covered under our regulations.'

'At this point, I am advised that we are not regulating air emissions at crematoriums.'

According to the Air Emissions Regulations, a source of emissions which does not require a permit are not to exceed an opacity (cloudiness) of 40 per cent.

Senger said human bodies would be covered under crematorium legislation with the Department of Community Services but that there is no such law in existence in the territory.

Senger said to his knowledge, the only law that may regulate human carcasses is the Funeral Directors Act, administered by the Department of Community Services.

The Funeral Directors Act does not cover the disposal of human bodies.

Furnace technician Bud McKay said he agrees with LaCoste that ice fog is a worry with the proposed crematorium.

'The real hazard I see is ice fog. I've been through Porter Creek and I see that being a real problem,' he said.

'There's going to be a lot of condensation in cold weather. There's going to be a lot of condensation coming out of that stack.'

LaCoste said he feels the smoke stack should be considered a public nuisance, which should be attracting the attention of Larke as the territory's medical officer of health.

'The large volume of visible emissions that will be emitted from the chimney of the proposed installation will be most unattractive, and at times will inevitably impair local vision to varying degrees in winter whenever ice fog forms.

'Further, we submit that local residents will be acutely aware that these emissions are the product of burning corpses, and that ice fog settles out of the air onto whatever happens to be under it,' he said.

'Therefore, we submit that neighbours will perceive the proposed furnace as an ongoing pubic nuisance.'

According to the Yukon Public Health and Safety Act, a public nuisance includes noxious or offensive materials which affect the property, health, comfort or convenience of the general public or people who happen to come within its operation.

The act calls for an exemption by the public health officer if the officer feels the activity will not create an unsanitary condition or public nuisance.

The act also states that no person shall create or maintain a condition that is likely to become a public nuisance near a highway or a school.

'(Larke) is the only person, the only person who can exempt people from the public nuisance thing.'

Larke said this morning he has talked to LaCoste on the crematorium issue but feels there is no evidence to consider the proposal to be a public health risk nor a public nuisance.

Larke said there no evidence in or out of the territory that a crematorium could create ice fog which would lead to a problem. He would have to see the facility in operation before making that determination, he added.

Considering something a public nuisance usually involves matters where organic waste that attracts vermin is involved and could lead to a threat to human health, Larke said.

'Imagine your neighbour, for whatever reason, moves in organic materials which are rotting and stinking and attracting things such as rats, vermin and insects,' he said.