X-Message-Number: 2337 From: (Thomas Donaldson) Subject: CRYONICS Re: The Wrong Stuff Date: Fri, 9 Jul 93 22:35:38 PDT Dear Steve: While I, too, am unhappy about the bleach incident, some other points in your letter, I feel, need clarification. You know yourself that Alcor has been FORBIDDEN BY THE AUTHORITIES to do any animal research. Whether they have the abstract ability to do so or not does not have anything to do with it. This has side effects, too, especially with people like Mike no longer there: one of the major ways the Alcor team used to have to improve its competence was animal experiments. This is no longer true, though of course (as I understand it) the Alcor Board has tried to get this restriction removed. I don't mean here to say that I agree completely with current policies. I do not. And among those policies with which I disagree is the fact that the Board has not moved faster to set up a system in which Mike's team can perform suspensions. Everything I've heard makes me think that Mike's team would be more competent. At the same time, I don't mean this as denigration of Tanya, either, who is trying to rise to the situation. Perhaps if more opportunities for practice became available, mistakes such as the one with bleach would not arise. All questions of "degrees" and "professional qualifications" aside, I believe that the current Alcor team could BECOME as competent as Mike's team. But Alcor now faces a barrier that Mike does not. I certainly hope that the external restriction do get removed. If the Alcor suspension team does not practice then, but merely rests on its somewhat flimsy laurels, then your comments will have even more force. Best and long long life, Thomas Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2337