These are the modern day mummies. Already, more than 1500 people across the world have contacted Summum, the world’s only mummification company, to be mummified after they die.

The company based in Salt Lake City, Utah have revealed that their clientele includes celebrities, from all over the world, including Britain, and added that they also cater to requests from pet owners.

Dozens of pets, including everything from dogs and cats, to peacocks, finches and even rats have undergone the traditional Egyptian burial routine.

The process takes 90 days. The organs are taken out and cleansed, then the body is hydrated for more than 70 days, submerged in a tank.

Then it is covered with lanolin and wax, followed by layers of cotton gauze and a fibre glass finish. The body is then encased in a steel or bronze casket.

Ron Temu, who works at Summum’s appropriately pyramid-shaped building as a counsellor for clients, said: ‘The chemicals we use are so permeable that if a drop was put on the hand, just seconds later it can be tasted in the mouth.

‘The olden day mummies look very dry and that’s because it was believed the best way to preserve them for the afterlife was to completely dehydrate them. We do the opposite and believe that hydrating the body fully is the best way to preserve it.

‘That's why the bodies will still look like the day they died - even thousands of years later.’

But the process isn’t cheap. Cats cost ￡3,600 and dogs at ￡15,000. Human mummification costs approximately ￡40,000.

Summum have already mummified human beings but their progress has been checked after 18 months and then state law says that as they have been opened, they must be incinerated.

But many are signed up to be mummified in the future - and the company says it has tremendous implications for cloning. It is feasible that DNA could be removed at a later date by drilling into the casket.

Mr Temu said: ‘Being able to take out DNA at a later date has real appeal for people. People like the idea of being able to clone themselves.

‘We have a lot of people signed up to be mummified. They signed up in their 30’s and 40’s, and are now in their 50’s and 60’s, so we have a lot of work ahead of us.’

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)