LEWISTON – Legislation intended to prevent dental fillings containing mercury from escaping into the environment during cremations could leave at least one crematory operator with a choice she hesitates to make.

Diane Fuller, who runs Gracelawn Memorial Park in Auburn with her husband, Dan, said their business either would have to spend “thousands of dollars” on anti-pollution equipment or remove fillings from the dead before their bodies are burned.

“The thought of it just creeps me out,” says Fuller, whose crematory is one of five in Maine.

A late-filed bill that advanced Monday in the Legislature is an offshoot of earlier legislation seeking to ban the use of mercury fillings by dentists. The two earlier bills have been tabled.

Mercury is a heavy metal linked to developmental problems in infants and other health-related issues.

The latest bill was filed by Sen. Scott Cowger, D-Hallowell, who said at least 20 pounds of mercury – “and probably more than double that” – is released into the air annually by the state’s crematories.

Given trends, the figure will only go up, he added.

“The number of cremations in Maine has doubled, to 50 percent” of all deaths in the state over the past decade or two, he said. With an aging population, “I see that trend continuing.”

Cowger’s bill calls for one of two measures: “Require the removal of amalgam fillings before cremation or put emission-control equipment on the stacks,” he said.

The latter “would cost thousands of dollars,” said Fuller, while looking into the mouths of about 2,000 bodies a year at her crematory would be time-consuming and costly.

“We’d need special training,” she said. “And a special place to do that. And special equipment – full biohazard suits. Nobody is going to do this. I can’t think of a crematory owner who will comply. We won’t.”