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A Colorado funeral home owner also sold human body parts. A new bill would make that illegal.

Legislation follows FBI raid at Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors in Montrose

John Ingold / The Denver Post
Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors in Montrose, Colorado, owned and directed by Megan Hess.
Sydney Warner | Montrose Daily Press

Colorado lawmakers are moving to make the state one of the first in the country to regulate companies that sell human body parts, following an FBI raid at a Montrose funeral home that also housed a body broker.

The state Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would require businesses selling human body parts that aren’t intended to be used in transplants to register with the state and maintain records documenting the donation of bodies and their sale. Tissue banks that sell organs for transplant are already regulated. The bill, SB18-234, would also prohibit anyone who owns more than a 10 percent stake in a funeral home or crematory from owning a body broker business.

“I decided that there needs to be some intervention to protect families,” said state Sen. Don Coram, a Republican from Montrose who is one of the bill’s sponsors.

Read the full article from The Denver Post. 


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