What Lyes can do to you

In the article it talked about how narco-hit men use Lye, usually sudiom hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, to get rid of bodies aswell as how universities do the same thing to get rid of the cadavers used in classes. What's usually done in the universities is that they take the bodies and dump it in an enormous "pressure cooker" and heat the water to 300 degrees F with some lye and let the body dissolve until only the bones are left. The Bones are then separated from the liquid and the mixture is poured down the drain. The narcos just heat up water and dumo the bodies in with lye until they get the same results, which take longer do to the water only reaching boiling point. I find it scary how something that can be used to clean or make soaps can do that kind of damage.

The article can be found at : http://www.slate.com/id/2238086/?from=rss