X-Message-Number: 17789
From: 
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 14:59:39 EDT
Subject: re:Subject: guesswork in cryonics Message #17782

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Charles Platt wrote:

>David, so long as you are not doing your lab work with whole human beings,
>and so long as none of your patients can be resuscitated, I think you must
>agree that you will be involved in "guesswork" like everyone else. You
>will certainly be extrapolating from your animal results.

Charles, what's your intent behind this message?  

I'm confused- it sounds like CI is working to really find out some of the 
basic answers to a lot of the problems of cryonics.  It seems to me that you 
are implying, or suggesting, that CI and their ongoing research program will 
be less than valuable- or no more valuable than anything other organizations 
are doing.  I apologize if I'm wrong.  

But what's your belief that motivated your message?  

Although no patients can currently be resuscitated, all cryonics 
organizations are doing lab work on whole human beings, every time we suspend 
someone- as to results, time will tell- but some of the direct observation 
during suspension is valuable.  

I'd also like to point out that NIH clinical trials all start with lab models 
based on chemistry, then advance to animal trials, then human trials.  This 
approach has been extremely successful.  Perhaps CI is just in the chemical 
study/animal trials area of their research.   And the diversity in labs - are 
there currently three? CI, Alcor, and Dr. Lemler's new lab setup, I'm sorry 
the name escapes me, are the ones I'm familiar with, should hearten everyone 
that groundbreaking research will follow in the next few years.  

As a general aside, medical science, in case anyone hasn't quite noticed 
recently, is currently what I would term a field of miracles.  We've just 
cracked the genetic codes, we've started human trials on HIV vaccines, we can 
now custom tailor drugs and medicines, our understanding of human physiology 
is growing by leaps and bounds- Cangene just applied for FDA approval of a 
hepatitis B hyperimmune product- blood plasma and antibodies specific to 
hepatitis B that don't rely on the patient's immune response.  I was 
fascinated to read about this on CNN, a new technology that didn't even exist 
2 years ago.

I think we should all encourage everyone involved with Cryonics to support 
ALL medical research, and the fact we have multiple labs doing research 
specific to cryonics should be something that makes our hearts leap with joy, 
not make us critical.  I hope that diversity in research, and having multiple 
cryonics organizations in existence, will help forward cryonics quickly.  

Best to you,
Michael Donahue

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