X-Message-Number: 20169 Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 09:23:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: 2 answers to 2 questions Is cryonics an activity that pollutes the Earth? Of course. Merely living and breathing, eating and defecating is a polluting activity. However, currently liquid nitrogen is an industrial byproduct. In other words, we are finding a use for something that few people want very much. You could compare this with buying an old car instead of a new one. A very "green" approach indeed. Dewar manufacture is a different matter, requiring stainless steel and some other materials; but dewars last for decades (longer than refrigerators) and consume no power. Personally I would compare cryonics with the huge array of resources that are required to maintain a terminal cancer patient for an extra week of life. Since we are hoping to give people extra decades of life, cryonics compares very favorably with any heroic medical procedure. Should we cool terminal patients before they die? Probably. But this would constitute medical intervention, using a non-FDA-approved procedure. It would therefore be illegal in the United States, and probably in most western nations--unfortunately. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20169