What do we know about the authors of that article?
Why is this reference reliable?
What secondary sources make the information valid?
The article mentions what appear to be anecdotes from 1897, and 1940. Where are the references?
Are there no recent studies on animals to validate this information?
From the link:
"Heated to 300 degrees, a lye solution can turn a body into tan liquid with the consistency of mineral oil in just three hours."
Where, or how, was he heating something to 300 degrees?
"If your kettle isn't pressurized, you won't be able to heat the solution much above the boiling point of water, 212 degrees, and it might take an additional hour or two to complete the process."
What did he use that is pressurized?
"Adolph Luetgert, known in his day as the "Sausage King of Chicago," dumped his wife into a boiling vat of lye in 1897, then burned what was left.
Police eventually found bone fragments in the factory's furnace."
Where are the bone fragments?
"British murderer John George Haigh used sulfuric acid to dissolve at least six of his victims in the 1940s. He processed the bodies in a 45-gallon oil drum and reported that the victims dissolved completely in about two days. He also said he had to leave the room, finding the fumes intolerable. (Sulfuric acid can cause third-degree burns."
Where are the 45 gallon oil drums?
"In addition to being safer and more efficient, lye is also easier to obtain than strong acids. You can purchase 8 pounds of it—enough to dissolve a few bodies—from soap-making or farm-supply stores for less than $15."
If lye was recently purchased (not available at
UFA), there would be a record.
link:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/12/soluble_dilemma.html
