X-Message-Number: 26463
References: <>
From: David Stodolsky <>
Subject: Anti-ageing and life extension (was: The Salvation Army and cryonics
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 11:53:01 +0200

> On Jun 27, 2005, at 4:00 PM, Thomas Donaldson wrote:
>
>> You should not feel at all bad about your association with the
>> Salvation Army.
>
> I think the entire movement should consider why this kind of outreach,
> based mostly on volunteers isn't part of our program of "saving lives".


Yesterday, I had a chance to glance thru the last year of the Journal 
of Gerontology, which is probably the top journal in the field. There 
were two special issues devoted to "Anti-ageing". While the outlook was 
good, there currently is no evidence that bio-medical interventions can 
extend life. Part of the issue was devoted to fraudulent claims, that 
seem to be wide spread and to the risk of injury to anyone accepting 
such claims.

On the other hand, positive results have been demonstrated for a range 
of social interventions. For example, volunteering clearly has a life 
extending effect. Other social variables also demonstrated beneficial 
effects.

The absence of consideration in recent discussion of such methods of 
"saving lives" illustrates a failure to view problems comprehensively.


dss


David S. Stodolsky    SpamTo: 

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