Resomation could soon be banned from New Hampshire, after a House committee yesterday unanimously voted to recommend striking from the books a law allowing the process of dissolving corpses in superheated lye.

The Resomation process, which proponents tout as an environmentally friendly and potentially cheaper alternative to cremation, became legal in New Hampshire in 2006, even though few people knew about it at the time. A provision allowing Resomation was inserted into a bill creating new regulations for crematories; several senators now say they don't remember who was behind it.

A House committee yesterday said the process needs more review. Members voted 18-0 to recommend repealing the law permitting Resomation while creating a committee to study the process.

"I don't think we feel that we've had time to do a really thorough policy discussion," said Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, a Nashua Democrat who chairs the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee.

While there are no Resomators operating in the state, Manchester funeral home director Chad Corbin had received permission to open a facility in Concord last year. Corbin's original proposed site, on Industrial Park Drive, has since been taken by a tool-and-die shop.

A message left for Corbin at Goodwin Funeral Home was not returned yesterday afternoon.

Legislators said that they felt uncomfortable with a process that had received little review so far. There are no Resomators for public use in the nation, although they are used in a few hospitals for medical waste and cadavers, including at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

The process, which proponents describe as an accelerated version of natural decomposition, takes place in an enclosed chamber. After a corpse is placed in the Resomator, the chamber fills with lye heated to more than 300 degrees. What's left three hours later are easily crushable "bone shadows" and a harmless liquid full of proteins and salts, according to resomation.com, a Scottish website marketing the process.

The bill now heads to the full House for a vote. After that, the Resomation debate heads back to the Senate, which earlier this year passed a measure that created rules to govern the process.

Senate sponsor Betsi DeVries said she hadn't decided on whether to support the House committee's version.

First, she said, she needs to get a legal opinion on whether Corbin, because he sought permits during a period when Resomation was legal in New Hampshire, has a vested right to open a Resomator in Concord.

DeVries said she isn't personally a proponent of Resomation but wants to make sure that so long as it's legal, it's regulated.

"My concern from Day One has been that . . . there (are) the proper procedures and licenses in place to deal with our departed," DeVries said.