R
Reason
Guest
LONGEVITY MEME NEWSLETTER April 05 2004
The Longevity Meme Newsletter is a biweekly e-mail
containing news, opinions and happenings for people
interested in healthy life extension: making use of diet,
lifestyle choices, technology and proven medical advances to
live healthy, longer lives. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
the Longevity Meme Newsletter, please visit
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/.
______________________________
CONTENTS
- Update on the Alcor Cryonics Legislation
- Interesting Items From Fight Aging!
- Help To Make Your Future Healthier and Longer
- Discussion
- Latest Healthy Life Extension News Headlines
UPDATE ON THE ALCOR CRYONICS LEGISLATION
It seems that victory was declared a little prematurely in
the matter of cryonics legislation in Arizona. As you will
recall from a few newsletters back, this bill would have
forced Alcor out of their business, but community support
made all the difference:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/view_newsletter.cfm-
?newsletter_id=51 http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/v-
iew_newsletter.cfm?newsletter_id=52
Why is cryonics important to a healthy life extension
community that is primarily focused on the future of
regenerative medicine? The short answer is that cryonics is
a form of insurance against your health giving out before
medical progress can save your life. Cryonics is also an
ethical necessity. No matter how fast medical science
advances towards longer, healthier lives, there will always
be some people who will not make it. We should not leave
them behind:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/topics/cryonics.cfm
The Arizona cryonics bill - a "solution without a problem" -
was abruptly put up to vote by the sponsor despite
assurances that this would not happen, and despite agreement
by all the stakeholders as to the undesirable nature of this
legislation (including the funeral directors who supposedly
called for it in the first place!) Considerable - and
justified - outrage was heard from the community, followed
by public and private discussions on the part of Alcor, the
Funeral Directors Association, Organ Procurement
organizations, their lobbyists and Arizona politicians. The
organ procurement folks were dragged into this because the
legislation as written would cause chaos in their medical
circles. Speed in politics tends to cause collateral damage
due to poorly worded or poorly thought out laws.
Fortunately, the bill has now been withdrawn - without much
in the way of useful explanation from its sponsor. This
local media article gives a few clues as to what the various
parties are thinking:
http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=19562
You can read the timeline of events and an explanation by
Alcor CEO Joe Waynick at the following pages:
http://alcor.org/Library/html/legislation.html
http://alcor.org/Library/html/legislation20040401.html
The motivations behind this unfortunate bill are unclear for
those of us on the outside, so it is hard to predict where
this matter will go from here. It is possible that the bill
will resurface as an attachment to some popular item of
legislation in an attempt to pass it by stealth. I suspect
that the Funeral Directors Association is starting to
realize that bringing the government into your house in
order to get your own way is not the smartest of ideas.
As a last note on the topic, your voices did make a
difference. This story would have had an unpleasant ending
if not for the outpouring of community support. We should
get up and apply the same treatment to the next anti-
research bill that tries to curb stem cell research and
regenerative medicine!
INTERESTING ITEMS FROM FIGHT AGING!
We haven't been idle since I last mentioned our new weblog.
If you enjoy this newsletter, you should also enjoy the
daily updates over at Fight Aging! Here are a few samples
that you might find interesting:
Robert Bradbury's Grand Unified Theory of Aging
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000071.php Robert
Bradbury of the Aeiveos Research Library has been working on
a grand unified theory of aging of late. He was kind enough
to post a summary to the extropy-chat list, which is
reproduced here with permission.
Healthy Life Extension and Boredom
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000064.php The world
seems divided into two camps on this topic. For one side,
it seems self-evident that longer life means boredom. To
the other side - my side - this is a very strange
attitude indeed.
The Ubiquity of the Tithonus Error
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000058.php This is an
interesting experiment: find any random person you know and
ask them what the downside would be to using better medicine
to live for 150 years.
The Wave Is Rising
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000053.php Events and
news of the past year have left me convinced that now is a
good time to set forth on ventures related to healthy life
extension, be they volunteer, individual, profit or non-
profit. A wave is slowly rising and gaining strength:
efforts by diverse groups to advocate, promote and educate
are beginning to noticeably influence mainstream culture and
media. This in turn leads to more such efforts.
The Meaning of Anti-Aging
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000045.php There is a war
being fought over the meaning of "anti-aging" and (to a
lesser extent) "life extension." It's fought with words and
funding between and within a number of different factions
within the business and scientific community.
HELP TO MAKE YOUR FUTURE HEALTHIER AND LONGER
As Gandhi said, "you must be the change you wish to see in
the world." If you like our efforts, add us to your
favorites or link to us from your sites or blogs. Tell a
friend. Every little action like this helps to spread the
concepts of healthy life extension, making them more widely
known, accepted, and supported. More support ultimately
means more research funding for advanced medicine and a less
anti-research legislation.
Keep up to date with our action items at the Longevity Meme
and see how you can take a few minutes to help:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/projects/
DISCUSSION
That would be all for this issue of the newsletter. The
highlights and headlines from the past two weeks follow
below. If you have comments for us, please do send e-mail to
[email protected].
Remember - if you like this newsletter, the chances are that
your friends will find it useful too. Forward the newsletter
on, or post a copy to your favorite online communities.
Encourage the people you know to pitch in and make a
difference to the future of health and longevity!
Reason [email protected] Founder, Longevity Meme
______________________________
LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES
Stem Cells From Baby Teeth? (April 04 2004) http://www.news-
.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9186247%255E13762,00.html
As reported by news.com.au, Australian scientists are in the
early stages of exploring discarded baby teeth as a source
of useful stem cells. The article is short on details
regarding the type of stem cells used, but the researchers
expect to be able to culture tissue from them. From the
article: "Stem cells from teeth can be influenced to grow
into tissue other than teeth. We have some evidence that
some cells may have the potential to develop into neural
cells. We now have a project injecting human cells into the
brains of rats in the hope they can replace networks damaged
by stroke or degenerative neural diseases."
More On Withdrawn Cryonics Legislation (April 04 2004)
http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=19562 The East Valley
Tribune has more on the demise of bill HB2637, including the
promise that it will likely be back in 2005. It's hard to
say why Representative Stump withdrew the bill for the
moment; there are a lot of conflicting stories and no-one
has much in the way of motivation to provide an accurate
insider viewpoint at this time. One possibility for the
future is that the bill - in its current disagreeable form -
will be quietly attached to some other well-backed
legislation in order to push it through while nobody is
looking. Politics, as a rule, isn't pretty or fair. The
power in the hands of legislators is easily abused or
misdirected by special interests, and there are few checks
on the system these days.
End The Stem Cell Research Ban (April 03 2004)eatures/Columns/Forward_Thinking/column.aspx?articleID=2004-
04-02-4 Simon Smith at Betterhumans tells us that "Bush's
flimsy funding policy is hurting promising research and real
people. All the ban has really done is slowed research,
reduced government oversight, given private companies a nice
gift, diminished information sharing and transparency and
all but guaranteed that the US won't be a leader in stem
cell treatments." While Simon is mostly right, I have to
disagree with his anti-corporate sentiments: most research
is not publicly funded. Private sector research has suffered
greatly, as uncertainty and threatened criminalization have
scared away investors and philanthropists. This is what is
truly holding back stem cell medicine.
Interesting Snippit On Calorie Restriction (April 03 2004)
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/504065/ (From
Newswise). A recent study demonstrates that calorie
restriction
(CR) improves longevity in ways unrelated to accompanying
weight loss. This is not unexpected, as CR causes gene
expression changes, but some scientists have assumed
beneficial effects stem only from weight loss. You will
recall that excess weight is reliably linked to a
greatly increased risk of just about every horrible age-
related condition known to man. Extra weight means a
shorter, less healthy life - it's as simple as that.
This study means that groups like BioMarker will
probably turn up more interesting CR science in the
near future.
Towards Cultured Blood Vessels (April 02 2004)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040331wo71.htm The Daily
Yomiuri reports that Japanese researchers have succeeded in
growing correctly-structured capillary blood vessels from
embryonic stem cells. All advances in the techniques of
tissue engineering relating to growing blood vessels are
important at this time, as they are required for efforts to
grow large scale tissue structures - like replacement organs
- on demand. When matched with existing tissue engineering
techniques involving scaffolds, it's clear that we should be
seeing rapid advances in this field in the next year or two.
Few advances will happen in the US while politicians are
trying to ban this form of medical research, however.
...And There Was Much Rejoicing (April 02 2004)
http://alcor.org/Library/html/legislation20040401.html
Alcor, the leading US cryonics provider has announced that
the "solution without a problem" regulatory bill is now
withdrawn. This is great news, and shows that the healthy
life extension community is now sizeable and organized to
the point of being able to win legislative battles at the
state level. As Joe Waynick puts it: "Any organization with
such a vocal and active membership is worthy of serious
consideration by government." It's a pity that we have to be
loud and vocal to prevent damaging legislation from being
passed at the behest of special interests by politicians
unfamiliar with the topics under consideration, but that's
part and parcel of living in an age of big government.
The Importance of Saving Money (April 01 2004)
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000057.php This post to
Fight Aging! is worth reading. We all have certain
expectations regarding financial plans for later life, but
do plans based on the experience of past generations serve
us well? How should we plan for a future that involves
greatly extended healthy life spans and expenses related to
regenerative medicine? Predicting the future is a mug's
game, but I do my best to provide some guidance,
guesstimates and ideas. The winds of change are gusting, and
people who don't take note will be in for a series of rude
awakenings down the line. You might also be interested to
read related posts on the ubiquity of the Tithonus Error and
why longer lives won't be boring.
Kass To Be Interviewed At SAGE Crossroads (April 01 2004)
http://www.sagecrossroads.net/public/webcasts/next.cfm The
next SAGE Crossroads webcast, scheduled for April 12th, is
to be an interview with Leon Kass, chair of the President's
Council on Bioethics. Given that most webcasts to date have
been debates, it's a shame that this one is just an
interview. Leon Kass holds a set of highly unethical views
on medicine and I'd like to see them challenged more often.
Kass is openly in favor of banning attempts to increase the
healthy human life span, and in favor of blocking stem cell
research and therapeutic cloning. In other words, he would
cheerfully enforce suffering and death on all the rest of us
if given the chance. Given his position as a human rubber
stamp for US administration policies, Kass' views should
give us all pause for thought.
Sweden To Half-Way Back Stem Cell Research (March 31 2004)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040325/sc_af-
p/sweden_biotech_cloning_040325163839 As reported by Yahoo!
News, the Swedish government is poised to permit embryonic
stem cell research, but ban any medical applications of this
research. This is the sort of nonsense compromise that we
humans produce in our attempts at politics, but I suppose
that this is still far better than the alternatives. This
legislation, unlike that passed by many European
governments, at least allows research to proceed. As the
benefits of stem cell medicine become tangible in years to
come, it will be increasingly hard for politicians to ban
progress towards better therapies and cures for the
incurable.
Separation Of Church And Bioethics (March 31 2004)eatures/Columns/Transitory_Human/column.aspx?articleID=2004-
03-31-1 George Dvorsky expresses strong opinions on the
influence of certain religious views on bioethics and
politics in his latest column at Betterhumans. Research
towards cures and life-saving therapies are being held back
and banned in countries around the world, including the US.
Technologies necessary for regenerative medicine, such as
therapeutic cloning, are treated as targets rather than the
vital medical advances they are. If we want a future of
better medicine and longer, healthier lives, then we must
support researchers and speak out against anti-research
legislation.
How Investors Think About Stem Cell Science (March 30 2004)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8313-
083.htm Contining the money theme for the day, here is a
piece from the Miami Herald. It provides a good insight into
the way in which venture capitalists and other investors
currently look at stem cell science. Stem cell research is a
gold mine in waiting, but legislative uncertainty and the
nature of early stage medical research is scaring investors
away. "Investors in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries aren't committing billions of dollars, largely
because society hasn't clearly decided whether the research
is moral." In other words, we won't see major progress until
politicians stop trying to ban this research. I, for one,
think that deliberately blocking research into cures that
will save millions of lives is a terrible, terrible act.
Philanthropic Funding Turns The Wheels Of Progress (March 30
2004) http://www.sagecrossroads.net/public/news/index.cfm An
article by Mary Beckman at SAGE Crossroads examines the way
in which scientific progress in medicine is enabled by
philanthropy. Funding that would otherwise be unavailable is
sometimes provided by determined private groups and
individuals. John Sperling, for example, or the Methuselah
Foundation. If you look back at times of great change in
science, you'll see that the early funding often comes from
wealthy visionaries, advocates, and the organizations they
create. The mainstream funding establishment - private and
public - is necessarily risk-averse, yet making advances in
medical science towards real anti-aging therapies requires
risk and uncertainty.
Read The Longevity Meme For The Articles (March 29 2004)
http://www.longevitymeme.org/articles/ If you're one of our
newer readers, or reading our news through an aggregator,
you should certainly take the time to look through the
Longevity Meme articles. We reprint helpful introductions,
explanations and companion pieces to healthy life extension:
all the better to help you get started on a longer life and
make the most of the community. You might want to take a
look at "Winning the War Against Aging" by Joao Magalhaes
and "Death is an Outrage" by Robert Freitas, excellent
essays that tackle some of the core issues in healthy life
extension. If you like what we have to say, by all means
read more.
Stem Cell Based Cancer Cure In The Works (March 29 2004) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/uotm-
psc032604.php EurekAlert reports on a novel way of combining
gene therapy with stem cells to cure cancer. Tissue repair
stem cells (mesenchymal progenitor cells or MSC) migrate to
tumors in the body in order to build tissue, but researchers
altered them to attack cancerous cells instead. In effect,
stem cells become the delivery mechanism for the gene
therapy. From the article: "Andreeff will present animal
data suggesting that gene modified MSC can inhibit the
growth of leukemias, lung metastases of melanomas and breast
cancer, ovarian and brain tumors. For example, MSC gene
therapy cured 70 percent of mice implanted with one kind of
human ovarian cancer."
Bioinformatics Will Help Us Live Longer (March 28 2004)
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002018.html Randall
Parker at FuturePundit offers a good example of the way in
which progress in bioinformatics is making medical science
faster and better. If computer simulations allow us to
understand proteins a thousand times faster, then progress
towards real anti-aging therapies (and cures for many
currently incurable conditions) based on this knowledge will
be correspondingly faster. We will see new and exciting
medicine technology in a decade rather than never. I have
opined at Fight Aging! on the relationship between speed of
research and the time it takes to make new medicine
available - you should take a look.
How Much Money To Save? (March 28 2004) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/esr-
sno032204.php A EurekAlert article on saving for retirement
- and the economic pressures on retirement and social
security system in most countries - reminds me that we have
to plan for a future in which real anti-aging medicine
exists. I examined how much money we should look at saving
in a post at the Fight Aging! blog, and conclude that your
plans should be very different from those of your parents.
The difference between a good plan and a bad plan is an
early death, because you can't afford to pay for healthy
life extension medicine and government programs have broken
down. Have you thought about the future of your health and
life span today?
OSHU To Open Stem Cell Research Center (March 27 2004)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2004/03/27/oregon/news01.txt The
Daily News reports that the Oregon Health and Science
University will be opening a stem cell research center with
a mix of state and private funding from The Oregon
Opportunity. The director of the new center notes that "one
of the things we have to be aware of in the stem cell field
is to avoid promising too much. My prediction is it will be,
not five, but 10 years before this is going to pay off." For
my part, I think five years is long enough for us to see the
first widespread application of comparatively simple
treatments for heart disease - assuming that US politicians
stop trying to halt this research.
It's Not Rocket Science (March 27 2004)
http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2004032340/ Making the
best of your natural longevity isn't rocket science, despite
the many people who are happy to take your money to tell you
otherwise. As this Charleston Daily Mail article points out,
the benefits of exercise, supplementation and a good
relationship with your physician are well known and well
documented. The detrimental effects of smoking and being
overweight are similarly well known. You can't yet do
anything about the effect your genes have on your longevity,
but you certainly can work on the rest of it! Stay healthy
and you'll live longer. Live longer, and you'll be around to
benefit from the real anti-aging medicine of the future.
Put Your Name To "Facing Cryonics" (March 26 2004) http://w-
ww.imminst.org/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=61&t=3311&hl=&s= In
response to recent legislative attacks on cryonics, the
Immortality Institute is managing an initiative called
"Facing Cryonics." By associating individual names, faces
and messages with the cryonics industry, we are better able
to communicate with legislators. It is far easier for
politicians to pass bad laws when they are not being engaged
on a person-to-person basis. The Facing Cryonics initiative
is a great way for you to show solidarity with cryonics
supporters and advocates in the healthy life extension
community. This sort of program will also serve well for
other causes as it is expanded, such as the political battle
over regenerative medicine and vital stem cell research.
Biotech Will Bring Great Benefits (March 26 2004)
http://www.techcentralstation.com/032604B.html Michael
Fumento examines the promise of biotech - including cures
for the incurable and greatly extended healthy life spans -
at Tech Central Station. Relieving suffering, saving lives
and fixing flaws in the human condition are just a fraction
of what could be achieved in the near future with the right
level of funding and public support. The naysayers and the
anti-biotech crowd (like Leon Kass, for example) ignore
these benefits in their attempts to block change and
progress. To my mind, it is deeply immoral to hold back the
development of new cures and better medicine. To do so costs
lives and creates suffering.
Elsewhere In South America... (March 25 2004)
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/3/emw112934.htm This
press release notes success in a human trial of a heart
therapy that "involves taking the patient's own bone marrow
and purifying it to obtain the type of stem cells which will
hopefully give rise to new blood vessels and muscle so the
heart can get more oxygen and function better." The trial
took place in Uruguay and was administered by a team of
Argentinian researchers. Meanwhile, the FDA has been
preventing US researchers from performing this sort of trial
until very recently. Approximately 50,000 people worldwide
die every day due to some form of heart disease. Political
delays in research have horrific human consequences.
Brazilian Government To Ban Therapeutic Cloning (March 25
2004) http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readn-
ews&itemid=1289&language=1 SciDev.net reports that the
Brazilian government is poised to pass a broad biotechnology
bill that will prohibit therapeutic cloning, and thus also
ban most promising stem cell research. There seems to be
some hope that pro-research groups will have that part of
the bill removed, but religious lobbying organizations are
fighting hard to keep it in. A good quote: "The total
prohibition [of research on human embryos] is reminiscent of
the age of Gailileo, and could delay research that may lead
to an improvement in the quality of human life." This is
almost certainly understated.
Thou Shalt Not Make Scientific Progress (March 25 2004) htt-
p://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/03/25/stem_cells/index.-
html Salon.com is running a good article that examines US
administration policy on stem cell research. The author
covers a fair amount of ground, including the recent
Bioethics Council controversy, but doesn't make the real
human costs of these policies clear. Delays in regenerative
medicine and stem cell research will produce a future that
includes tens or hundreds of millions of deaths that could
have been prevented. Years of delay have already happened.
We all need to speak out and make our voices heard in order
to bring about a better future for health, advanced medicine
and longevity.
FDA Relents, Allows Heart Stem Cell Trials (March 24 2004)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/24646-
69 We have been castigating the FDA for blocking an
effective stem cell therapy for heart disease. As reported
in the Houston Chronicle, the FDA has relented. Recent
studies have raised questions about this type of therapy,
but it seems that there are several similar types of therapy
under discussion. From the article: "All of the 14 Brazilian
patients showed some sign of improvement in their heart
function after receiving stem cell injections, researchers
said, including the ability of the heart muscle to pump
blood. Several have even begun jogging. Although it is a
very small sample of patients, just two have died in the
nearly two years of monitoring, when, without treatment,
half or more might have died."
US Government Blocking Stem Cell Research (March 24 2004)
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/826-
3146.htm Articles examining the detrimental effects of US
government policy - legislation both enacted and threatened
- on stem cell research have been cropping up more often of
late, and a good thing too. When considering the cost in
death and suffering, medical reseach policy is clearly far
more important than most issues reporters and politicians
spend time on. Bad legislation has a way of hanging around
for decades, and decades of delay in developing regenerative
medicine will impose great suffering and death on hundreds
of millions worldwide. This article from the Mercury News
also mentions the ongoing California Stem Cell Research and
Cures initiative, which aims to put $3 billion dollars in
state funding towards stem cell research.
Science is Hard and Fraught With Setbacks (March 23 2004)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/22/MNG5U5-
OENH1.DTL&type=science Biomedical research isn't easy,
even though the current rate of progress often makes it
seem so. This article from SFGate reminds us that for
every success we read about, there are a dozen failures
lurking in the wings. I don't think that the author's
conclusions are necessarily valid - stem cells are
notoriously hard to work with at this point in time.
Reports earlier in the month indicated other side effects
and difficulties in trials using stem cells to repair
heart disease. This is all part of the learning process.
You don't abandon scientific research because you aren't
getting perfect results right now.
Start Calorie Restriction At Any Age (March 23 2004) http:/-
/www.reutershealth.com/archive/2004/03/22/eline/links/20040-
322elin013.html Reuters reports on a study confirming that
calorie restriction can extend healthy life span in mice
even if started in old age. Most scientists expect calorie
restriction results in animals to translate well to humans,
based on work done to date. This study was funded by
BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, a company working on medicine to
reproduce that beneficial effects of calorie restriction
without the dieting. Scientists understand far more about
the way in which calorie restriction works these days, so we
should start to see results in a few years. In particular,
the work on changes in gene expression that occur with
calorie restriction is interesting and promising.
On Healthy Life Extension (March 22 2004) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/22/BUG4E5OBTG1.DTL (From
SFGate). David Ewing Duncan writes a good article on the
state of healthy life extension, covering a fair slice of
what's hot right now in related genetic and animal studies.
Cynthia Kenyon gets good mention of course, as does Elixir
Pharmaceuticals. Demonstrations of radical life extension in
animals are very encouraging to the public and lead to
greater support for research into human medicine, as
realized by the folks running the Methuselah Mouse Prize.
This said, it is important to note that humans are not like
worms, and translating successes in mice into successes in
humans is not always straightforward either.
Potentially Limitless T Cells (March 22 2004) http://www.nature.com/nsu/040315/040315-
16.html Nature tells us of yet another reason to be pushing
ahead with stem cell research. Scientists have demonstrated
that "potentially limitless" numbers of T cells, a vital
part of the immune system, can be created in the laboratory
using stem cells. A quote: "In theory, the lab-made immune
cells could be used for any patient, because they lack
surface molecules that trigger rejection." We can now add
immune system deficiencies to the long list of medical
conditions open to stem cell based therapies. How much
longer can European and US governments continue to block and
criminalize this vital research?
______________________________
If you have comments for us, please do send e-mail to
[email protected].
The Longevity Meme Newsletter is a biweekly e-mail
containing news, opinions and happenings for people
interested in healthy life extension: making use of diet,
lifestyle choices, technology and proven medical advances to
live healthy, longer lives. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
the Longevity Meme Newsletter, please visit
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/.
______________________________
CONTENTS
- Update on the Alcor Cryonics Legislation
- Interesting Items From Fight Aging!
- Help To Make Your Future Healthier and Longer
- Discussion
- Latest Healthy Life Extension News Headlines
UPDATE ON THE ALCOR CRYONICS LEGISLATION
It seems that victory was declared a little prematurely in
the matter of cryonics legislation in Arizona. As you will
recall from a few newsletters back, this bill would have
forced Alcor out of their business, but community support
made all the difference:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/view_newsletter.cfm-
?newsletter_id=51 http://www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/v-
iew_newsletter.cfm?newsletter_id=52
Why is cryonics important to a healthy life extension
community that is primarily focused on the future of
regenerative medicine? The short answer is that cryonics is
a form of insurance against your health giving out before
medical progress can save your life. Cryonics is also an
ethical necessity. No matter how fast medical science
advances towards longer, healthier lives, there will always
be some people who will not make it. We should not leave
them behind:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/topics/cryonics.cfm
The Arizona cryonics bill - a "solution without a problem" -
was abruptly put up to vote by the sponsor despite
assurances that this would not happen, and despite agreement
by all the stakeholders as to the undesirable nature of this
legislation (including the funeral directors who supposedly
called for it in the first place!) Considerable - and
justified - outrage was heard from the community, followed
by public and private discussions on the part of Alcor, the
Funeral Directors Association, Organ Procurement
organizations, their lobbyists and Arizona politicians. The
organ procurement folks were dragged into this because the
legislation as written would cause chaos in their medical
circles. Speed in politics tends to cause collateral damage
due to poorly worded or poorly thought out laws.
Fortunately, the bill has now been withdrawn - without much
in the way of useful explanation from its sponsor. This
local media article gives a few clues as to what the various
parties are thinking:
http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=19562
You can read the timeline of events and an explanation by
Alcor CEO Joe Waynick at the following pages:
http://alcor.org/Library/html/legislation.html
http://alcor.org/Library/html/legislation20040401.html
The motivations behind this unfortunate bill are unclear for
those of us on the outside, so it is hard to predict where
this matter will go from here. It is possible that the bill
will resurface as an attachment to some popular item of
legislation in an attempt to pass it by stealth. I suspect
that the Funeral Directors Association is starting to
realize that bringing the government into your house in
order to get your own way is not the smartest of ideas.
As a last note on the topic, your voices did make a
difference. This story would have had an unpleasant ending
if not for the outpouring of community support. We should
get up and apply the same treatment to the next anti-
research bill that tries to curb stem cell research and
regenerative medicine!
INTERESTING ITEMS FROM FIGHT AGING!
We haven't been idle since I last mentioned our new weblog.
If you enjoy this newsletter, you should also enjoy the
daily updates over at Fight Aging! Here are a few samples
that you might find interesting:
Robert Bradbury's Grand Unified Theory of Aging
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000071.php Robert
Bradbury of the Aeiveos Research Library has been working on
a grand unified theory of aging of late. He was kind enough
to post a summary to the extropy-chat list, which is
reproduced here with permission.
Healthy Life Extension and Boredom
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000064.php The world
seems divided into two camps on this topic. For one side,
it seems self-evident that longer life means boredom. To
the other side - my side - this is a very strange
attitude indeed.
The Ubiquity of the Tithonus Error
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000058.php This is an
interesting experiment: find any random person you know and
ask them what the downside would be to using better medicine
to live for 150 years.
The Wave Is Rising
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000053.php Events and
news of the past year have left me convinced that now is a
good time to set forth on ventures related to healthy life
extension, be they volunteer, individual, profit or non-
profit. A wave is slowly rising and gaining strength:
efforts by diverse groups to advocate, promote and educate
are beginning to noticeably influence mainstream culture and
media. This in turn leads to more such efforts.
The Meaning of Anti-Aging
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000045.php There is a war
being fought over the meaning of "anti-aging" and (to a
lesser extent) "life extension." It's fought with words and
funding between and within a number of different factions
within the business and scientific community.
HELP TO MAKE YOUR FUTURE HEALTHIER AND LONGER
As Gandhi said, "you must be the change you wish to see in
the world." If you like our efforts, add us to your
favorites or link to us from your sites or blogs. Tell a
friend. Every little action like this helps to spread the
concepts of healthy life extension, making them more widely
known, accepted, and supported. More support ultimately
means more research funding for advanced medicine and a less
anti-research legislation.
Keep up to date with our action items at the Longevity Meme
and see how you can take a few minutes to help:
http://www.longevitymeme.org/projects/
DISCUSSION
That would be all for this issue of the newsletter. The
highlights and headlines from the past two weeks follow
below. If you have comments for us, please do send e-mail to
[email protected].
Remember - if you like this newsletter, the chances are that
your friends will find it useful too. Forward the newsletter
on, or post a copy to your favorite online communities.
Encourage the people you know to pitch in and make a
difference to the future of health and longevity!
Reason [email protected] Founder, Longevity Meme
______________________________
LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES
Stem Cells From Baby Teeth? (April 04 2004) http://www.news-
.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9186247%255E13762,00.html
As reported by news.com.au, Australian scientists are in the
early stages of exploring discarded baby teeth as a source
of useful stem cells. The article is short on details
regarding the type of stem cells used, but the researchers
expect to be able to culture tissue from them. From the
article: "Stem cells from teeth can be influenced to grow
into tissue other than teeth. We have some evidence that
some cells may have the potential to develop into neural
cells. We now have a project injecting human cells into the
brains of rats in the hope they can replace networks damaged
by stroke or degenerative neural diseases."
More On Withdrawn Cryonics Legislation (April 04 2004)
http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=19562 The East Valley
Tribune has more on the demise of bill HB2637, including the
promise that it will likely be back in 2005. It's hard to
say why Representative Stump withdrew the bill for the
moment; there are a lot of conflicting stories and no-one
has much in the way of motivation to provide an accurate
insider viewpoint at this time. One possibility for the
future is that the bill - in its current disagreeable form -
will be quietly attached to some other well-backed
legislation in order to push it through while nobody is
looking. Politics, as a rule, isn't pretty or fair. The
power in the hands of legislators is easily abused or
misdirected by special interests, and there are few checks
on the system these days.
End The Stem Cell Research Ban (April 03 2004)eatures/Columns/Forward_Thinking/column.aspx?articleID=2004-
04-02-4 Simon Smith at Betterhumans tells us that "Bush's
flimsy funding policy is hurting promising research and real
people. All the ban has really done is slowed research,
reduced government oversight, given private companies a nice
gift, diminished information sharing and transparency and
all but guaranteed that the US won't be a leader in stem
cell treatments." While Simon is mostly right, I have to
disagree with his anti-corporate sentiments: most research
is not publicly funded. Private sector research has suffered
greatly, as uncertainty and threatened criminalization have
scared away investors and philanthropists. This is what is
truly holding back stem cell medicine.
Interesting Snippit On Calorie Restriction (April 03 2004)
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/504065/ (From
Newswise). A recent study demonstrates that calorie
restriction
(CR) improves longevity in ways unrelated to accompanying
weight loss. This is not unexpected, as CR causes gene
expression changes, but some scientists have assumed
beneficial effects stem only from weight loss. You will
recall that excess weight is reliably linked to a
greatly increased risk of just about every horrible age-
related condition known to man. Extra weight means a
shorter, less healthy life - it's as simple as that.
This study means that groups like BioMarker will
probably turn up more interesting CR science in the
near future.
Towards Cultured Blood Vessels (April 02 2004)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040331wo71.htm The Daily
Yomiuri reports that Japanese researchers have succeeded in
growing correctly-structured capillary blood vessels from
embryonic stem cells. All advances in the techniques of
tissue engineering relating to growing blood vessels are
important at this time, as they are required for efforts to
grow large scale tissue structures - like replacement organs
- on demand. When matched with existing tissue engineering
techniques involving scaffolds, it's clear that we should be
seeing rapid advances in this field in the next year or two.
Few advances will happen in the US while politicians are
trying to ban this form of medical research, however.
...And There Was Much Rejoicing (April 02 2004)
http://alcor.org/Library/html/legislation20040401.html
Alcor, the leading US cryonics provider has announced that
the "solution without a problem" regulatory bill is now
withdrawn. This is great news, and shows that the healthy
life extension community is now sizeable and organized to
the point of being able to win legislative battles at the
state level. As Joe Waynick puts it: "Any organization with
such a vocal and active membership is worthy of serious
consideration by government." It's a pity that we have to be
loud and vocal to prevent damaging legislation from being
passed at the behest of special interests by politicians
unfamiliar with the topics under consideration, but that's
part and parcel of living in an age of big government.
The Importance of Saving Money (April 01 2004)
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/000057.php This post to
Fight Aging! is worth reading. We all have certain
expectations regarding financial plans for later life, but
do plans based on the experience of past generations serve
us well? How should we plan for a future that involves
greatly extended healthy life spans and expenses related to
regenerative medicine? Predicting the future is a mug's
game, but I do my best to provide some guidance,
guesstimates and ideas. The winds of change are gusting, and
people who don't take note will be in for a series of rude
awakenings down the line. You might also be interested to
read related posts on the ubiquity of the Tithonus Error and
why longer lives won't be boring.
Kass To Be Interviewed At SAGE Crossroads (April 01 2004)
http://www.sagecrossroads.net/public/webcasts/next.cfm The
next SAGE Crossroads webcast, scheduled for April 12th, is
to be an interview with Leon Kass, chair of the President's
Council on Bioethics. Given that most webcasts to date have
been debates, it's a shame that this one is just an
interview. Leon Kass holds a set of highly unethical views
on medicine and I'd like to see them challenged more often.
Kass is openly in favor of banning attempts to increase the
healthy human life span, and in favor of blocking stem cell
research and therapeutic cloning. In other words, he would
cheerfully enforce suffering and death on all the rest of us
if given the chance. Given his position as a human rubber
stamp for US administration policies, Kass' views should
give us all pause for thought.
Sweden To Half-Way Back Stem Cell Research (March 31 2004)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040325/sc_af-
p/sweden_biotech_cloning_040325163839 As reported by Yahoo!
News, the Swedish government is poised to permit embryonic
stem cell research, but ban any medical applications of this
research. This is the sort of nonsense compromise that we
humans produce in our attempts at politics, but I suppose
that this is still far better than the alternatives. This
legislation, unlike that passed by many European
governments, at least allows research to proceed. As the
benefits of stem cell medicine become tangible in years to
come, it will be increasingly hard for politicians to ban
progress towards better therapies and cures for the
incurable.
Separation Of Church And Bioethics (March 31 2004)eatures/Columns/Transitory_Human/column.aspx?articleID=2004-
03-31-1 George Dvorsky expresses strong opinions on the
influence of certain religious views on bioethics and
politics in his latest column at Betterhumans. Research
towards cures and life-saving therapies are being held back
and banned in countries around the world, including the US.
Technologies necessary for regenerative medicine, such as
therapeutic cloning, are treated as targets rather than the
vital medical advances they are. If we want a future of
better medicine and longer, healthier lives, then we must
support researchers and speak out against anti-research
legislation.
How Investors Think About Stem Cell Science (March 30 2004)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8313-
083.htm Contining the money theme for the day, here is a
piece from the Miami Herald. It provides a good insight into
the way in which venture capitalists and other investors
currently look at stem cell science. Stem cell research is a
gold mine in waiting, but legislative uncertainty and the
nature of early stage medical research is scaring investors
away. "Investors in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries aren't committing billions of dollars, largely
because society hasn't clearly decided whether the research
is moral." In other words, we won't see major progress until
politicians stop trying to ban this research. I, for one,
think that deliberately blocking research into cures that
will save millions of lives is a terrible, terrible act.
Philanthropic Funding Turns The Wheels Of Progress (March 30
2004) http://www.sagecrossroads.net/public/news/index.cfm An
article by Mary Beckman at SAGE Crossroads examines the way
in which scientific progress in medicine is enabled by
philanthropy. Funding that would otherwise be unavailable is
sometimes provided by determined private groups and
individuals. John Sperling, for example, or the Methuselah
Foundation. If you look back at times of great change in
science, you'll see that the early funding often comes from
wealthy visionaries, advocates, and the organizations they
create. The mainstream funding establishment - private and
public - is necessarily risk-averse, yet making advances in
medical science towards real anti-aging therapies requires
risk and uncertainty.
Read The Longevity Meme For The Articles (March 29 2004)
http://www.longevitymeme.org/articles/ If you're one of our
newer readers, or reading our news through an aggregator,
you should certainly take the time to look through the
Longevity Meme articles. We reprint helpful introductions,
explanations and companion pieces to healthy life extension:
all the better to help you get started on a longer life and
make the most of the community. You might want to take a
look at "Winning the War Against Aging" by Joao Magalhaes
and "Death is an Outrage" by Robert Freitas, excellent
essays that tackle some of the core issues in healthy life
extension. If you like what we have to say, by all means
read more.
Stem Cell Based Cancer Cure In The Works (March 29 2004) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/uotm-
psc032604.php EurekAlert reports on a novel way of combining
gene therapy with stem cells to cure cancer. Tissue repair
stem cells (mesenchymal progenitor cells or MSC) migrate to
tumors in the body in order to build tissue, but researchers
altered them to attack cancerous cells instead. In effect,
stem cells become the delivery mechanism for the gene
therapy. From the article: "Andreeff will present animal
data suggesting that gene modified MSC can inhibit the
growth of leukemias, lung metastases of melanomas and breast
cancer, ovarian and brain tumors. For example, MSC gene
therapy cured 70 percent of mice implanted with one kind of
human ovarian cancer."
Bioinformatics Will Help Us Live Longer (March 28 2004)
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002018.html Randall
Parker at FuturePundit offers a good example of the way in
which progress in bioinformatics is making medical science
faster and better. If computer simulations allow us to
understand proteins a thousand times faster, then progress
towards real anti-aging therapies (and cures for many
currently incurable conditions) based on this knowledge will
be correspondingly faster. We will see new and exciting
medicine technology in a decade rather than never. I have
opined at Fight Aging! on the relationship between speed of
research and the time it takes to make new medicine
available - you should take a look.
How Much Money To Save? (March 28 2004) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/esr-
sno032204.php A EurekAlert article on saving for retirement
- and the economic pressures on retirement and social
security system in most countries - reminds me that we have
to plan for a future in which real anti-aging medicine
exists. I examined how much money we should look at saving
in a post at the Fight Aging! blog, and conclude that your
plans should be very different from those of your parents.
The difference between a good plan and a bad plan is an
early death, because you can't afford to pay for healthy
life extension medicine and government programs have broken
down. Have you thought about the future of your health and
life span today?
OSHU To Open Stem Cell Research Center (March 27 2004)
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2004/03/27/oregon/news01.txt The
Daily News reports that the Oregon Health and Science
University will be opening a stem cell research center with
a mix of state and private funding from The Oregon
Opportunity. The director of the new center notes that "one
of the things we have to be aware of in the stem cell field
is to avoid promising too much. My prediction is it will be,
not five, but 10 years before this is going to pay off." For
my part, I think five years is long enough for us to see the
first widespread application of comparatively simple
treatments for heart disease - assuming that US politicians
stop trying to halt this research.
It's Not Rocket Science (March 27 2004)
http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2004032340/ Making the
best of your natural longevity isn't rocket science, despite
the many people who are happy to take your money to tell you
otherwise. As this Charleston Daily Mail article points out,
the benefits of exercise, supplementation and a good
relationship with your physician are well known and well
documented. The detrimental effects of smoking and being
overweight are similarly well known. You can't yet do
anything about the effect your genes have on your longevity,
but you certainly can work on the rest of it! Stay healthy
and you'll live longer. Live longer, and you'll be around to
benefit from the real anti-aging medicine of the future.
Put Your Name To "Facing Cryonics" (March 26 2004) http://w-
ww.imminst.org/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=61&t=3311&hl=&s= In
response to recent legislative attacks on cryonics, the
Immortality Institute is managing an initiative called
"Facing Cryonics." By associating individual names, faces
and messages with the cryonics industry, we are better able
to communicate with legislators. It is far easier for
politicians to pass bad laws when they are not being engaged
on a person-to-person basis. The Facing Cryonics initiative
is a great way for you to show solidarity with cryonics
supporters and advocates in the healthy life extension
community. This sort of program will also serve well for
other causes as it is expanded, such as the political battle
over regenerative medicine and vital stem cell research.
Biotech Will Bring Great Benefits (March 26 2004)
http://www.techcentralstation.com/032604B.html Michael
Fumento examines the promise of biotech - including cures
for the incurable and greatly extended healthy life spans -
at Tech Central Station. Relieving suffering, saving lives
and fixing flaws in the human condition are just a fraction
of what could be achieved in the near future with the right
level of funding and public support. The naysayers and the
anti-biotech crowd (like Leon Kass, for example) ignore
these benefits in their attempts to block change and
progress. To my mind, it is deeply immoral to hold back the
development of new cures and better medicine. To do so costs
lives and creates suffering.
Elsewhere In South America... (March 25 2004)
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/3/emw112934.htm This
press release notes success in a human trial of a heart
therapy that "involves taking the patient's own bone marrow
and purifying it to obtain the type of stem cells which will
hopefully give rise to new blood vessels and muscle so the
heart can get more oxygen and function better." The trial
took place in Uruguay and was administered by a team of
Argentinian researchers. Meanwhile, the FDA has been
preventing US researchers from performing this sort of trial
until very recently. Approximately 50,000 people worldwide
die every day due to some form of heart disease. Political
delays in research have horrific human consequences.
Brazilian Government To Ban Therapeutic Cloning (March 25
2004) http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readn-
ews&itemid=1289&language=1 SciDev.net reports that the
Brazilian government is poised to pass a broad biotechnology
bill that will prohibit therapeutic cloning, and thus also
ban most promising stem cell research. There seems to be
some hope that pro-research groups will have that part of
the bill removed, but religious lobbying organizations are
fighting hard to keep it in. A good quote: "The total
prohibition [of research on human embryos] is reminiscent of
the age of Gailileo, and could delay research that may lead
to an improvement in the quality of human life." This is
almost certainly understated.
Thou Shalt Not Make Scientific Progress (March 25 2004) htt-
p://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/03/25/stem_cells/index.-
html Salon.com is running a good article that examines US
administration policy on stem cell research. The author
covers a fair amount of ground, including the recent
Bioethics Council controversy, but doesn't make the real
human costs of these policies clear. Delays in regenerative
medicine and stem cell research will produce a future that
includes tens or hundreds of millions of deaths that could
have been prevented. Years of delay have already happened.
We all need to speak out and make our voices heard in order
to bring about a better future for health, advanced medicine
and longevity.
FDA Relents, Allows Heart Stem Cell Trials (March 24 2004)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/24646-
69 We have been castigating the FDA for blocking an
effective stem cell therapy for heart disease. As reported
in the Houston Chronicle, the FDA has relented. Recent
studies have raised questions about this type of therapy,
but it seems that there are several similar types of therapy
under discussion. From the article: "All of the 14 Brazilian
patients showed some sign of improvement in their heart
function after receiving stem cell injections, researchers
said, including the ability of the heart muscle to pump
blood. Several have even begun jogging. Although it is a
very small sample of patients, just two have died in the
nearly two years of monitoring, when, without treatment,
half or more might have died."
US Government Blocking Stem Cell Research (March 24 2004)
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/826-
3146.htm Articles examining the detrimental effects of US
government policy - legislation both enacted and threatened
- on stem cell research have been cropping up more often of
late, and a good thing too. When considering the cost in
death and suffering, medical reseach policy is clearly far
more important than most issues reporters and politicians
spend time on. Bad legislation has a way of hanging around
for decades, and decades of delay in developing regenerative
medicine will impose great suffering and death on hundreds
of millions worldwide. This article from the Mercury News
also mentions the ongoing California Stem Cell Research and
Cures initiative, which aims to put $3 billion dollars in
state funding towards stem cell research.
Science is Hard and Fraught With Setbacks (March 23 2004)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/22/MNG5U5-
OENH1.DTL&type=science Biomedical research isn't easy,
even though the current rate of progress often makes it
seem so. This article from SFGate reminds us that for
every success we read about, there are a dozen failures
lurking in the wings. I don't think that the author's
conclusions are necessarily valid - stem cells are
notoriously hard to work with at this point in time.
Reports earlier in the month indicated other side effects
and difficulties in trials using stem cells to repair
heart disease. This is all part of the learning process.
You don't abandon scientific research because you aren't
getting perfect results right now.
Start Calorie Restriction At Any Age (March 23 2004) http:/-
/www.reutershealth.com/archive/2004/03/22/eline/links/20040-
322elin013.html Reuters reports on a study confirming that
calorie restriction can extend healthy life span in mice
even if started in old age. Most scientists expect calorie
restriction results in animals to translate well to humans,
based on work done to date. This study was funded by
BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, a company working on medicine to
reproduce that beneficial effects of calorie restriction
without the dieting. Scientists understand far more about
the way in which calorie restriction works these days, so we
should start to see results in a few years. In particular,
the work on changes in gene expression that occur with
calorie restriction is interesting and promising.
On Healthy Life Extension (March 22 2004) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/22/BUG4E5OBTG1.DTL (From
SFGate). David Ewing Duncan writes a good article on the
state of healthy life extension, covering a fair slice of
what's hot right now in related genetic and animal studies.
Cynthia Kenyon gets good mention of course, as does Elixir
Pharmaceuticals. Demonstrations of radical life extension in
animals are very encouraging to the public and lead to
greater support for research into human medicine, as
realized by the folks running the Methuselah Mouse Prize.
This said, it is important to note that humans are not like
worms, and translating successes in mice into successes in
humans is not always straightforward either.
Potentially Limitless T Cells (March 22 2004) http://www.nature.com/nsu/040315/040315-
16.html Nature tells us of yet another reason to be pushing
ahead with stem cell research. Scientists have demonstrated
that "potentially limitless" numbers of T cells, a vital
part of the immune system, can be created in the laboratory
using stem cells. A quote: "In theory, the lab-made immune
cells could be used for any patient, because they lack
surface molecules that trigger rejection." We can now add
immune system deficiencies to the long list of medical
conditions open to stem cell based therapies. How much
longer can European and US governments continue to block and
criminalize this vital research?
______________________________
If you have comments for us, please do send e-mail to
[email protected].