When Kenneth Iserson began to research embalming, the process by which undertakers chemically treat dead bodies to retard decay, he found nothing.

While preparing an ethics paper on teaching with corpses, Iserson, professor of surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, stumbled on a cover-up.

"I felt like a muckraking reporter," he says.

Two years later, Iserson produced a no-holds-barred expose of a $7 billion industry that systematically conceals its methods.

"Now there are people in the funeral industry who will talk openly. But at the time I was writing 'Death to Dust,' I had to work with several Deep-Throats," he says.

Iserson says he feels public and professional ignorance of what happens to dead bodies prevents organ and tissue donation and promotes exploitation by funeral homes.

With chapter subheads like, "Could I just have my brain frozen?" and "What is necrophilia?" Iserson's bestselling 'Death to Dust' tells the whole story.

The author of three books also directs the Arizona Bioethics Program and is medical director of the Southern Arizona Rescue Association, a volunteer search and rescue group.

The Wildcat spoke to Iserson on the job at UMC where he practices emergency medicine.

Iserson wears shower caps over his shoes, a white coat and a button that says, "Trust me, I'm a doctor."

WC: In your book, you say death is a kind of emotional final frontier for Americans, that we can deal with sex and we talk about almost anything, but that death is really off-limits. How big a role does "the death industry" play in America's death-aver sion?

KI: It feeds into it. They could do a lot to eliminate death as a taboo, but they don't because it's not in their best interest to do that.

WC: How big is the death industry? How corporate is it?

KI: The death industry is getting larger and larger. There's essentially one large corporation that controls the chemicals used in embalming. There's another large company that controls most of the casket industry. There are a couple of other large corpor ations, the largest being Service Corp. International, that control more and more of the funeral homes, cemeteries and crematories in the United States and Britain.

WC: I remember the last time we talked, you were describing looking through funeral industry journals, and finding ads from major airlines ...

KI: Yeah, all the large airlines have advertisements in the funeral industry journals, specifically hawking their ability to transport bodies, and they have special numbers, like 1-800-AA-TRUST or 1-800-DL-CARES, to attract funeral industry business becau se, in fact, it is big business. The question I had was how many flyers would decline to fly if they knew there were a couple of stiffs in the hold.

WC: What's the history of embalming? I think you say that most people around the world are either amazed or horrified by this practice ...

KI: Popes and generals and kings get embalmed in a lot of different cultures, but not the common, everyday person. Embalming took off in the United States, initially, because bodies had to be transported long distances without refrigeration during the Civ il War, but then it kind of, died out, so to speak [laughs]. It was wasn't very popular until the end of the nineteenth century, when there was an enormous fear generated about premature burial. The reason for embalming was that if when you go to the emba lmer you're not dead, you're dead when you leave. People didn't have to worry about being buried alive.

WC: Why was there a scare about premature burials just at the time?

KI: Well, there actually were a lot of documented premature burials, but people like Edgar Allen Poe also did their part. Have you read the story "Premature Burial?" Well, in fact many of stories Poe tells at the beginning of "Premature Burial" were true. He almost plagiarized them. I have the original newspaper clippings he took them from, and they're very specific. They detail the same stories he was telling.

WC: Was there an epidemic of live burials, or did people just begin to become aware of them?

KI: Well, people have been aware of them since the Bible. In fact, the Jewish custom, the old, old, old Jewish custom, when bodies were buried in caves, was that ...

WC: Is that why Christ was ...

KI: Right, right! And Lazarus returned from the grave - well, it wasn't a grave, it was a cave. The Jewish requirement was that the family had to visit the body every day for the first three days after it was entombed. Now why was that? So that they didn' t make a mistake. So that's very, very old. People were aware of this.

WC: In your book you say the U.S. Army uses corpses to test mines and artillery ...

KI: They did that at least through Vietnam. I can't tell you after that. Sure, they used bodies. They shot at bodies. They blasted them. Still, though, the U.S. auto industry uses corpses for some of their crash dummy tests. They don't show that on televi sion! It's very necessary because the simulated dummies don't give us all the information. These things have led to airbags and other safety equipment. These are donated bodies from Detroit-area hospitals.

WC: What are some other things corpses are used for?

KI: More and more corpses are being used in Phase I testing of drugs. These are usually people who have been declared brain-dead, but who are not acceptable for organ and tissue donation. And, you know, bodies have been used for food. They still are.

WC: It's not a myth?

KI: No. People have tried to deny it, but we have too much documentation. The kind that we know still exists is survival cannibalism, just like the movie and the book Andes. The Uruguayan soccer team crashed in the Andes some years ago, and a number of th eir compatriots died. They used their bodies to survive because they weren't rescued for a long time. Well, that's happened forever. In navies ... OK, here's another: bodies have been used for decoration. Not only decorating jewelry, but decorating buildi ngs, and all kinds of things. And all over Europe for example, a lot of churches will have ossuaries, mainly places to keep decorated bones € bones have been used as implements from prehistoric times. Femurs for clubs, skulls for drinking bowls ... But th e most important use right now is in organ and tissue donation.

WC: Nice transition there; So what myths prevent people from donating?

KI: They're afraid it will destroy the body so that they can't have an open-casket funeral. That's actually not true. You can donate almost every organ and tissue that's in demand and you can still have an open-casket funeral. Modern funeral directors kno w how to do that. A lot of people say, "If I donate parts, I won't be able to be resurrected on resurrection day." In fact, the churches themselves have made the argument: "Well, what about the saints, the martyrs?" They have been burned, or their bodies have been scattered in churches around the world. Won't they be resurrected? Of course they will, and so can anybody else. People say, "They've suffered enough." Well, they may have suffered a lot, but they're finished suffering. The bodies we work with a re dead, even if they're dead by brain criteria. They can't feel anything. They're done with their suffering. The people who are suffering are those waiting for organ and tissue donation. People believe organs and tissue are stolen. Not true. That's just not true. People think that if they sign organ-tissue donor cards physicians won't work on them as aggressively. That also is just not true. The doctors who work on the patient are different from the ones who follow up with the organ and tissue transplant . One body that is suitable for organ and tissue donation can help dozens of people - with bones and hearts, two lungs, kidneys, eyes, skin.

WC: What do you want to happen to your body when you die?

KI: Personally, I expect to have my organs and tissues donated. They can have all the organs and tissues they want. The rest of it cremated. If all works right, my ashes will be scattered up on Finger Rock.