Contact: Jessica Koth, 262-814-1536; Emilee High, 262-814-1547

For Immediate Release:
August 6, 2009
NFDA: 26-09

Brookfield, Wis. - This week, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) called on officials at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to extend the Funeral Rule, the federal regulations governing the nation's funeral homes, to cover all sellers of deathcare goods and services.

In a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, NFDA CEO Christine Pepper, CAE, reiterated the association's call for increased consumer protection under the Funeral Rule. Over the past 20 years, NFDA has been joined by consumer groups, such as AARP, in repeatedly petitioning the FTC to expand the Funeral Rule to cover all sellers of funeral goods and services, including cemeteries and crematories.

In her letter, Pepper states: "Any time the government extends regulations over sellers in an industry or profession, it has the effect of curtailing the opportunity for abuse. If a seller is not licensed, not inspected and not regulated by federal, state or local governments, it operates in a free-for-all world where there is no accountability for any transgression... NFDA, AARP and other organizations have documented the harm that consumers have experienced... The FTC has refused to even investigate these complaints by arguing (without any support or evidence) that the practices are not pervasive throughout the industry. As a result, cemetery and crematory consumers continue to suffer from these reoccurring scandals."

This letter comes on the heels of the events surrounding Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. In July, Illinois authorities and the FBI launched an investigation into the illegal exhumation of hundreds of bodies that were allegedly dumped in a mass grave so that cemetery plots could be resold. Authorities report that thousands of the dead remain unaccounted for by their families.

Click here to read the letter sent to the FTC by NFDA in its entirety.

NFDA is the world's leading funeral service association, serving 19,000 individual members who represent more than 10,200 funeral homes in the United States and internationally. From its headquarters in Brookfield, Wis., and its Advocacy Division office in Washington, D.C., NFDA informs, educates and advocates to help members enhance the quality of service they provide to families. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.

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