A local business that freezes human bodies is fighting a state order to stop operating.

The Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township freezes dead bodies, hoping medical science can later discover ways to revive them. The Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services shut down the company's operations last month saying it is not licensed as a mortuary or cemetery.

The facility, located at 24355 Sorrentino Court, was ordered to preserve the bodies currently in its care; however, it will not be able to accept any new contracts or bodies.

The Cryonics Institute has now requested a hearing before an administrative law judge to challenge the state order.

The governmental agency said it was made aware of the Michigan cryonics facility after the death of Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ted Williams, whose remains are frozen in an Arizona cryonics facility.

Cryonics is defined as the process of freezing and storing the body of a recently deceased person to prevent tissue decomposition so that at some future time the person might be brought back to life upon development of new medical cures.

The Cryonics Institute may become licensed either as a funeral establishment or registered as a cemetery; however, current law would prohibit the Cryonics Institute from being able to do both. The law stipulates that bodies cannot be prepared at the scene of a cemetery, however the institute could make arrangements for the bodies to be prepared in a licensed funeral home, according to CIS.