This has caused considerable alarm at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It appears disposal of the dead is not just a community problem for Parsis, but a global problem as well. People in the western world began to opt for cremation because burial locks up useful land and burial plots are frightfully expensive. A fear psychosis is intentionally sought to be created in the minds of gullible Parsis. It is rumoured, Flies and insects sit on the bodies in the dokhmas and then on the food tables at homes in Malabar Hill.
Sensible people cover their food properly and use insect repellents.
If there is a health hazard, as alleged, the onus of proof is not on the Parsi community. The fact is the dokhmas have been in existence for the past more than 300 years and to date, there is not a singly proven recorded case of an epidemic arising as a consequence of the dokhmas. We wonder if the persons who have spread this rumour have themselves seen rats or other rodents inside the towers. The fact is one finds more rat holes in Parsi colonies in Bombay than at doongerwadi. In fact, doctrinally, it is considered an act of spiritual merit to exhume a buried corpse and throw it open to the purifying rays of the sun.