Green cremation method renders human bodies into fertilizer

Photo: Resomation Ltd.

Green (gross?) cremation method produces liquid fertilizer

New climate-friendly cremation method uses water and lye to transform human remains into 200 gallons of liquid fertilizer.

mnn.com | Dec 7, 2009

By Stephanie Rogers

There are an awful lot of people on the planet, and modern methods for disposing of human remains aren’t exactly earth-friendly. A new alternative to cremation and burial could change that — and even increase food production for those still living — if we can get past the ‘ick factor’ of liquefying our dead relatives.

“Resomation” is the process of disposing of human corpses through alkaline hydrolysis, which occurs when the body is sealed inside a vault-like tube filled with water and lye and steam-heated to 300 degrees. Three hours later, some powdery bone fragments and 200 gallons of fluid are all that remains.

Essentially, Resomation — which was developed by Scottish company Resomation Ltd. — is just like the natural process of decomposition, but on fast-forward. The fluid can be safely dumped into sewer systems or even used as fertilizer on farms and gardens — a proposal that some say comes a little too close to ‘Soylent Green’ for comfort.

But unlike cremation and traditional burial, alkaline hydrolysis doesn’t lead to toxic chemicals like dioxin and formaldehyde being released into the atmosphere or water supply. It also uses 80 percent less energy than standard cremation.

Despite its apparent eco-friendliness, it’s improbable that Resomation will become a common way to deal with human remains any time soon. It seems unlikely at best that Americans will accept pouring what’s left of a loved one down a drain or consuming food that has been sprayed with corpse juice.

But as world leaders struggle to deal with the immense specter of global warming, solutions like Resomation may become more palatable — and it’s already accepted by many religious faiths, including Catholicism.

“We’re not opposed to it. Environmentally, it seems like the right thing to do,” says Catholic Cemeteries manager of marketing Amy Profenna.

Vicar sends warning over satanic activity in the Forest

Vicar sends warning over occult activities

A rural vicar has warned people not to dabble in the occult after a sheep’s head was impaled on a pole outside one of his churches.

Telegraph | Nov 26, 2009

Rev Nick Bromfield says he has spotted several signs of black magic worship in the area and even seemingly harmless pub psychic nights and crystal readings can cause untold damage.

The vicar, who attracts some of the biggest congregations in the Forest of Dean, west Gloucestershire, fears people are being conned, hurt or frightened out of their wits.

Mr Bromfield decided to speak out after seeing increasing evidence of “dark forces” in the Forest and being called on to pick up the pieces when things go wrong.

“I want people to be aware of the potential damage that can be caused by this kind of activity,” he said.

“It might sound medieval to talk about the relationship between good and evil, but there is no middle ground on this. People need to leave well alone.

“I have been told there are people operating in a darker place, and I have seen signs of satanic activity in the Forest.

“It’s difficult to quantify but there is something about borders that attracts occult activity and the seclusion is also very attractive. They are allowing in forces that can do great damage.

“I know a lot of pagans in the Forest and they are as appalled about this as Christians.”

Mr Bromfield, the rector of Drybrook, Lydbrook and Ruardean, is asked to bless around 10 homes a year because of the owners’ fear something is amiss.

So far he has not needed to call in the diocesan deliverance officers who are allowed to perform exorcisms.

But he is regularly asked to help people who have been left angry, upset or sometimes scared after being tempted to contact dead loved ones.

The vicar says he has seen animal carcasses laid out in circles or surrounding stones, which could be a sign of black magic worship in the woodlands.

A few weeks ago a parishioner at one of his churches was upset to find a severed sheep’s head dripping with blood mounted on a pole in the grounds.

“Naturally it wasn’t very pleasant and I burned it,” said the vicar, who fears it could have been a warning.

“But I think it’s something that clergy in many rural parishes have experienced.

“It’s either a malicious deliberate provocative act against the church or our “friends” from that sphere of activity sending a tribute because we are successful.”

Lawyer: Khmer Rouge Chief “Enjoyed” Murder of 16,000 Men, Women and Children

In this photo released by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Kaing Guek Eav, the former chief of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious S-21 prison, now known as Tuol Sleng genocide museum, is seen in the courtroom of the U.N.-backed tribunal, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. Also known as Duch, Kaing Guek Eav is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture, and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials by the tribunal. AP

As Genocide Trial Winds Down, Prosecution Accuses Prison Chief of Downplaying his Role in “Awful Reality”

AP | Nov 23, 2009

The genocide trial of a prison chief for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge entered its final stage Monday, as closing arguments began in the historic effort to assign responsibility for the deaths of 1.7 million people three decades ago.

The defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, commanded S-21 prison which punished those accused of disloyalty to the xenophobic communist group. He oversaw the torture and execution of about 16,000 men, women and children during its 1975-79 rule.

If the U.N.-assisted tribunal rules him guilty, the former schoolteacher faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, as Cambodia has no death penalty.

One of the lawyers for the victims evoked the specter of the Nazi death camps of World War II in recalling the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities.

Pierre-Olivier Sur said the parents and grandparents of people of his generation had repeatedly said that “the death camps were over and would never happen again.”

“The death camps and the mass graves have survived,” he declared, referring to Khmer Rouge prisons and the infamous “killing fields,” where they dumped their victims. He called for the tribunal to not let crimes against humanity go unpunished.

As much as one-sixth of Cambodia’s population perished from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the Khmer Rouge’s radical policies — including the mass evacuation of towns and cities, and the ruthless persecution of alleged rivals.

With some of the handful of S-21 survivors and family members of the dead looking on, another of the victims’ lawyers charged that Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch (pronounced DOIK), pursued his role with zeal and had no empathy for his victims despite his expressions of remorse.

“Look at them, Duch. Look at these men and women who you wanted to smash, and whose parents and loved ones and children you smashed,” said lawyer Philippe Canonne.

“You can smash insects and animals but you can’t smash human beings, because one day they will come back, one way or another, or their successors to demand a reckoning,” he said.

As he watched the proceedings, Duch showed no emotion. He is expected to give his final statement as early as Wednesday, a day after the prosecution begins its summation. He is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture.

The closing arguments will conclude Friday, while a verdict and sentence are expected early next year. Under an innovative arrangement, the victims — known as the ‘civil parties’ — were represented at the trial, and their lawyers made Monday’s presentations.

In his testimony, Duch has accepted responsibility for his role in overseeing the prison and asked for forgiveness from victims’ families. He also told the court that he was ready to accept heavy punishment for his actions.

Despite that, said lawyer Karim Khan, the impression he gave at the trial is of a man trying to downplay his part in the activities at S-21 prison, which is in Phnom Penh and is now a genocide museum.

“The accused has sought to evade or minimize his role and the reality, the awful reality, that was S-21 and the regime that operated there and the fate and the suffering that befell so many civil parties,” Khan said.

Another lawyer for victims, Kong Pisey, dismissed earlier assertions by Duch that he acted out of fear of being punished by his superiors. He portrayed Duch instead as someone who put everything he had into his job.

“He was not only proud of his job and convinced of the party line to identify and eradicate the enemy without any sense of guilt,” Kong Pisey said. “Moreover, he enjoyed the power as a power-hungry man who performed more than 100 percent without any empathy for his victims.”

Duch is the only accused Khmer Rouge leader to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. Four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders are in custody awaiting trial.

He has denied personally killing or torturing the S-21 prisoners, and said he felt compelled by fear for his own life to follow the orders of senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

Francois Roux, Duch’s lawyer, described his client as “nervous and anxious” about taking the stand for one last time and refused to detail what Duch would say. But he said that his client was hopeful the judges would take into consideration the fact he has admitted his guilt and apologized to his victims.

“At this moment it’s very important to give credit to Duch for his guilty plea. Duch has recognized his responsibility,” Roux said Sunday. “He has asked forgiveness from his victims.”

The trial opened March 30. Some Cambodians have expressed frustration over how long it is taking, fearing the other aging defendants may die before they can be tried.

Toronto woman becomes first transexual Body Worlds donor

Visitors who see Paige’s body on display will see up close the results of an extensive surgical male-to-female transition. She has had full cranial facial reconstruction and separate feminization surgeries for her nose, lips, cheeks, breasts, hips and hair line — plus full-body laser hair removal.

xtra.ca | Nov 20, 2009

TEACHER & COACH. Body Worlds donor Dina Paige says that her body will help educate people about gender after she dies, because it will be plastinated as part of the Body Worlds project. (beyouwithddp.com)

Paige is the first transgendered person to donate her body to the program, which preserves bodies through a process called “plastination” and puts them on display in cities around the world.

The process was created by German scientist Gunther von Hagens, who initially used plastinated bodies for medical instruction and later created the Body Worlds series of public exhibits. More than 28 million people have seen the exhibit around the world, according to the Body Worlds web site.

Paige, a 54-year-old “full-blooded Italian,” runs her own business coaching transgendered people through the transitioning process and says being part of the Body Worlds exhibit will allow her work to continue long after she dies.

“The preserved bodies will last for a thousand years and beyond. The preservation technique is better than the pharaohs,” she says. “I was born a man, and look like a female, and yet have breasts and a penis. I couldn’t think of a better way for humanity to look at and evaluate the issues of what it means to be male, female, or both.”

Visitors who see Paige’s body on display will see up close the results of an extensive surgical male-to-female transition. She has had full cranial facial reconstruction and separate feminization surgeries for her nose, lips, cheeks, breasts, hips and hair line — plus full-body laser hair removal.

Paige says she decided to donate her body when she saw Body Worlds the first time it was in Toronto. The process of donating was simple, she says.

“It’s very much like filling out a donor card,” says Paige. “They ask some questions and let you know what the process is. They have a guide for donors and a guide for survivors. It’s quite simple.”

Donors are not paid for their bodies and must cover the cost of shipping the cadaver to the nearest Institute for Plastination embalming centre. Donors must have died of natural causes, must not be autopsied, and must be “largely intact,” according to the Body Worlds web site. Donors who carry infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.

Paige recommends that anyone considering donating his or her body should give the matter “sober consideration” and discuss it with their next of kin.

“Let loved ones and relatives who are going to look after the arrangements be very comfortable with it,” she says, noting that her family has been very accepting of her decision.

“My children, who are 29 and 28, are almost sick of me talking about it. I brought my son and daughter to the exhibit and my son is even considering donating his body,” she says.

Suicide Epidemic Sweeps France Telecom

Employees of France Telecom, Europe’s third-biggest telecoms firm, demonstrate in front France Telecom’s headquarters in Marseille October 20, 2009 to protest against a wave of suicides at the former state monopoly that unions blame on restructuring and work pressure. The banner reads ” No to Torment at Work. No to the Stress. No to 150 Employees in the Same Workplace”.  Reuters

Corporate Culture and Stress Cited as Contributing to 26 Deaths in Last 18 Months

CBS | Nov 20, 2009

If you work, no one has to tell you that stress is part of just about every job. But at one company it’s out of control.

France Telecom is undergoing a major restructuring with the goal of cutting $2.25 billion in expenses. But as the company strives to save money, it’s losing employees to an epidemic of suicide, CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports from Paris.

Ludovic Nouclerq started hallucinating about hanging himself one year ago. He was a manager at France Telecom and was told he had failed to achieve corporate goals, a common experience in the working world.

But Nouclerq claims that in the case of this giant company, undermining employees is a deliberate management strategy that has led to suicide.

“I knew that what I will do won’t be successful,” said Nouclerq, who says he was being set up to fail.

France Telecom began a massive re-organization three years ago, cutting one fifth of its workforce. Since then employees have been going to a lot of funerals. There have been 26 in the last 18 months.

In France, the suicide rate is 16 suicides per 100,000. At France Telecom, it is 17.6.

Work is usually not the reason for suicide. But in the case of France Telecom, many of those who have committed or attempted suicide have directly blamed the company and its management for creating working conditions that have made their lives intolerable.

The suicides and dozens of attempts are happening all over the French network. Suicide notes tell similar stories, blaming constant pressure to resign, impossible goals, frequent forced relocations and chaotic reorganization.

One woman jumped to her death from her fifth floor office window after she was told her job was changing yet again and that she was being assigned to another new boss.

“I’d rather die,” she wrote.

Yonnel Dervin stabbed himself in the stomach at work after his manager told him he no longer had the skills the company needed.

“You’re in your own bubble. Too bad. It’s a bubble without oxygen. You understand? You just can’t live anymore,” Dervin said through a translator.

Noelle Burgi has studied the France Telecom problem and says suicide is just the tip of the iceberg.

“People are treated like numbers,” Burgi said. “It’s a cumulative process.”

The company’s CEO, Didier Lombard, was booed by employees after yet another suicide. Pressured by the French government to stop the deaths, Didier has had to announce the suspension of job transfers and corporate re-organization at least until the end of the year.

But suicide attempts at the company continue and no one thinks these measures will put an end to this epidemic any time soon.

US Army Suicides Continue at Record Pace

VOA | Nov 17, 2009

By Al Pessin

The U.S. Army reported Tuesday that the number of suicides among soldiers this year has already equaled the number for all of last year, and so will rise for the fifth consecutive year, in spite of a major effort to combat the trend. The Army’s number two officer says he is significantly short of the type of professionals who could help reverse the trend.

The vice chief of the Army, General Peter Chiarelli was frank about the latest statistics.

“This is horrible, and I do not want to downplay the significance of these numbers in any way,” he said.

The general reported there have been 140 suicides among active duty soldiers this year, and another 71 among reservists and members of the National Guard, some of whom had been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

“We talk about these incidents of suicide using figures and percentages,” he said. “However the grim reality is each case represents an individual, a person, with family and friends and a future ahead of him or her. Every single loss is devastating.”

But while the overall numbers are up, General Chiarelli says the rate has eased in recent months. Nearly 30 percent of Army suicides this year happened in January and February, with a steady decline since then except for a couple of months. But the general says in spite of extensive efforts, officials and doctors can not say why the rate is up in some months or down in others, or why it has risen steadily for the last five years.

“Everywhere I try to cut this and look at and try to find the causal effect I get thwarted, and that’s why we think we’ve got to look, in its totality, at a whole bunch of different issues. And it’s going to take time,” he said.

The general says even seemingly obvious causes are not confirmed by the data. For example, about a third of the suicides are among soldiers who have never deployed to the war zones. But he says the Army has begun to identify some factors that could contribute to the high suicide rates, including post-traumatic stress, mild brain injuries that may not be diagnosed, substance abuse and the deployment of small numbers of soldiers far from bases that offer mental health services.

Indeed, the general says he could use at least 750 more mental health workers in the Army, in addition to the 900 who have been added to the force in the last two years. He says he also needs up to 300 more substance abuse counselors.

“We are an army that is based on authorizations that were prior to eight years of war,” said General Chiarelli. “And I have been pounding the system to say, ‘we have got to sit down and determine what we need after eight years of war.”

The U.S. Army has been focused on mental health issues for several years, but concern was heightened earlier this month when a soldier killed 12 colleagues and one civilian in a shooting rampage on a base in Texas. The alleged gunman is an officer, and a psychiatrist who specializes in stress, and was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan. He is also a Muslim, who is now believed to have militant leanings.

The Army is funding a huge mental health study which will keep track of as many as half a million soldiers during the next five years. It is also implementing a variety of innovative programs designed to make it easier for soldiers to report their own problems, and to help comrades who show signs of being suicidal.

“This is a matter of life and death, and it is absolutely unacceptable to have individuals suffering in silence because they’re afraid their peers or superiors will make fun of them, or worst [that] it will adversely affect their careers,” said the general.

General Chiarelli says soldiers need to realize that mental problems are just like bullet wounds and broken legs, and must be treated by trained professionals. He calls dealing with the Army’s mental health and suicide problems the toughest challenge he has faced in his 37 years of service.

Body Worlds plans cadaver show dedicated to sex

 

German anatomist Gunther von Hagens and his wife Angelina Whalley (L) pose in front of a plastinated human body during the media preview of the Koerperwelten (‘Body Worlds’) exhibition in Zurich September 10, 2009. The exhibition by von Hagens, famous for his Body Worlds shows of plastinated human bodies, runs from September 11 to February 28, 2010. Reuters

“We have discussed whether it is proper to show homosexuality and in what way. This is a very delicate subject.”

Reuters | Sep 11, 2009

By Jason Rhodes

ZURICH (Reuters) – German anatomists plan a new show dedicated solely to dead bodies having sex as part of the Body Worlds exhibitions.

Gunther von Hagens and his wife Angelina Whalley show corpses prepared using a technique invented by von Hagens called “plastination,” that removes water from specimens and preserves them with silicon rubber or epoxy resin.

“It’s not my intention to show certain sexual poses. My goal is really to show the anatomy and the function,” Body Worlds creative director Whalley told Reuters in an interview, adding the sex exhibition may open next year.

Body Worlds exhibitions, visited by 27 million people across the world, have been criticized for presenting entire corpses, stripped of skin to reveal the muscles and organs underneath, in lifelike and often theatrical positions.

Von Hagens has already triggered uproar with a new exhibit which shows just two copulating corpses.

German politicians called the current “Cycle of Life” show charting conception to old age “revolting” and “unacceptable” when it showed in Berlin earlier this year because it included copulating cadavers.

The way a plastinate is exhibited can vary from country to country to reflect local sensibilities. A vote of local employees decided that one of the copulating female cadavers should wear fewer clothes in Zurich than was the case in Berlin.

“Switzerland is the first country that already said from the outset that we could show whatever we wanted,” said von Hagens.

“Zurich is ready … but it’s maybe not so easy in every other town,” he said. “We have discussed whether it is proper to show homosexuality and in what way. This is a very delicate subject.”

Von Hagens and Whalley said they both intended to donate their bodies for plastination, but would not leave instructions about how to display them, dismissing this as vanity.

“I find it a great opportunity to give something to others by donating my body, namely self-awareness,” said Whalley.

Von Hagens said he and some other body donors even saw plastination as an alternative to burial or cremation, giving them more certainty about would happen to their bodies after death.

“Cremation for me is hell,” he said.

No sex for dead bodies at Singapore’s Body Worlds show

A visitor looks at plastinated human specimens in love-making posture during the media preview of the Koerperwelten (‘Body Worlds’) exhibition in Zurich September 10, 2009. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

The exhibitions, visited by some 28 million people around the world, have been criticized by some people as unacceptable, with German politicians taking special offence at “The Cycle of Life” exhibit which opened in Berlin earlier this year because it included copulating cadavers.

Reuters | Oct 30, 2009

By Rina Ota

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – A controversial exhibition charting life from conception to old age using cadavers has come to Singapore this week — but without the copulating corpses that caused an uproar in Germany.

Body Worlds’ “The Cycle of Life” exhibition is one of several around the world that show skinless corpses with muscles and organs revealed, in life-like, often theatrical positions.

The specimens are from people who have agreed to donate their bodies for educational purposes.

The exhibitions, visited by some 28 million people around the world, have been criticized by some people as unacceptable, with German politicians taking special offence at “The Cycle of Life” exhibit which opened in Berlin earlier this year because it included copulating cadavers.

These corpses, however, are not on display in conservative Singapore. What’s on show is a flat cross-section of two copulating bodies that only shows their internal organs.

“Sensational display of sexual activity does not go with our theme,” Chew Tuan Chiong, chief executive of the Singapore Science Center which is hosting the exhibit, told Reuters.

“It is for educational and science study, and there is not much controversy for using real human body specimens in this exhibition for us,” he said, adding that several schools had brought students to see the exhibition.

Body Worlds’ founders, Gunther von Hagens and his wife Angelina Whalley, prepare the bodies using a technique invented by von Hagens called plastination in which water is removed from specimens and they are preserved with silicon rubber or resin.

In Singapore, nearly 200 human specimens are on display, including single organs and preserved animals. The exhibition runs until March 2010.

Swiss crackdown on ’suicide tourism’

Swiss crackdown on ’suicide tourism’ could spell end of Dignitas clinic

London Times | Oct 29, 2009

by Roger Boyes

Switzerland announced plans yesterday to crack down on “suicide tourism”, signalling that it might close the Dignitas clinic that has helped hundreds of terminally ill people to take their lives.

The plans — in the form of two draft Bills that will be offered for public debate — are likely to set off a rush of patients from Britain and elsewhere in Europe since Switzerland has become the main destination for those seeking assisted suicide.

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the Justice Minister, said that two options would be presented to parliament. Either clinics such as Dignitas and Exit, which deals chiefly with Swiss patients, will have to accept much stricter regulation or they will be closed down.

The tightening of the rules would require patients to present two medical opinions declaring their disease incurable, that death is expected within months and that they have made their decision of sound mind and fully aware of their options.

These guidelines, said the minister, appeal to common sense. And even in the most controversial clinic, Dignitas, these rules are already broadly adhered to. But critics have accused Dignitas of widening its criteria. Some patients are not terminally ill and at least a few would-be suicides are suffering from clinical depression.

The plan is thus to slow down the process and make it a more considered, and carefully policed, decision.

“It won’t be possible in future for someone to cross the border and commit suicide a few days later with the help of an organisation,” Ms Widmer-Schlumpf said. She did not stipulate how long the waiting period should last because that would be decided on each case individually. But the assisted suicide clinics are financially dependent on large numbers of patients passing relatively quickly through the system. So far Dignitas has benefited from the liberal rules in the canton of Zürich.

If the law goes through — the deliberation period lasts until March and the restrictions could come in soon afterwards — the federal Swiss state will have to take over the policing from regional authorities. Doctors’ recommendations will be controlled and those who prescribe fatal drugs observed more closely. The draft law will also ban any attempt to charge more than basic expenses for assisted suicide.

Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas, described the proposals as “outdated and patronising”. He has always argued that restricting assisted suicide will not cut the numbers but mean more people end their lives violently.

“By cutting off assisted suicide for chronically or psychologically ill people who are capable of informed choice the Government will promote lonely suicides on train tracks,” he said.

Whether the Swiss Government decides on tighter regulation or a ban, Mr Minelli will feel the squeeze. An outright ban would mean a complete rethink of suicide laws across Europe. The existence of the Swiss clinics has allowed other countries to resist liberalising their own laws. Mr Minelli has talked of setting up in Germany, but the legal obstacles are high there, too.

At the root of the Swiss Government’s initiative is a fear that the cheerful Heidi-and-cowbells image is being tarnished by suicide tourists. About 400 turned to clinics for help in committing suicide in 2007, 132 of them from abroad. Even so, it is a big step for the Swiss authorities, who are reluctant to regulate over the heads of their autonomous cantons.

At least 119 Britons are known to have ended their lives at Dignitas. Up to 800 more are members of the organisation, the first step to dying there at some time in the future.

Rock rages against the torture machine

The list of music used included death metal band Deicide’s F..k Your God

Air Force lieutenant colonel Dan Kuehl, who teaches psychological operations to the US military, invoked the Old Testament use of loud music. “Joshua’s army used horns to strike fear into the hearts of the people of Jericho.”

The Australian | Oct 24, 2009

by Tim Reid

A COALITION of musicians including Pearl Jam and REM. has backed a formal demand to be told if their songs have been used to torture detainees in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq.

Many former prisoners have claimed they were blasted with excruciatingly loud music for months on end – a tactic banned under the UN Convention Against Torture but not yet from the US Army Field Manual.

The musicians spoke out yesterday as a Freedom of Information request was lodged by the US campaign group No More Guantanamos, a legal move backed by the British human rights group Reprieve, which has been campaigning against “music torture” for more than a year.

According to evidence gained by human rights organisations, the list of music used included songs ranging from death metal band Deicide’s F..k Your God, Sesame Street tunes, and the song most frequently blasted at inmates, I Love You by the children’s TV character Barney the Purple Dinosaur.

Former detainees have said the tactic was one of the worst and most painful used against them. The National Security Archive, a freedom of information organisation helping the musicians, said the playlist also featured cuts from AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, and Marilyn Manson.

Archive executive director Thomas Blanton said: “At Guantanamo the US government turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture. The musicians and the public have the right to know how an expression of popular culture was transformed into an interrogation technique.”

Tom Morello, guitarist with the band Rage Against the Machine – whose song Killing in the Name of was also used – said: “The fact that music I helped create was used as a tactic against humanity sickens me.”

The musicians’ campaign comes as the Obama administration has been forced to concede that the President’s pledge to shut Guantanamo by January will fail. His bold promise to close the prison within a year of coming to office has run into myriad political and logistical problems, including fierce opposition at home to the transportation of detainees to US prisons and a reluctance by Western allies to receive many of the remaining inmates. Congress is refusing to fund the closure of the facility, which still holds about 220 prisoners.

After the September 11 attacks and the war on terror it appears the use of loud music first became common inside Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, scene of the infamous inmate abuse photographs.

Haj Ali, the hooded man in one of the most notorious pictures, told of being stripped and forced to listen to a looped version of David Gray’s Babylon at a volume so loud that he said he thought his head “would explode”. Metallica’s Enter Sandman was often used in Guantanamo Bay, while Queen’s We Are the Champions was a favourite among US guards at Camp Cropper in Iraq. One Iraqi talked of being taken to an unidentified location and blasted with music in a building referred to as “the disco”.

In one case interrogators allegedly played music to “stress” Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a citizen of Mauritania, who has been at Guantanamo for more than seven years, because he believed music was forbidden.

Slahi said he was questioned over a 10-day period in July 2003 by an interrogator called “Mr X” while being “exposed to variable lighting patterns” and repeated playing of a song called Let the Bodies Hit the Floor by the band Drowning Pool.

Last year, retired US air force lieutenant colonel Dan Kuehl, who teaches psychological operations to the US military, invoked the Old Testament use of loud music. “Joshua’s army used horns to strike fear into the hearts of the people of Jericho,” he told the St Petersburg Times in Florida. “His men might not have been able to break down literal walls with their trumpets but the noise eroded the enemy’s courage.”