X-Message-Number: 5182
Date: 15 Nov 95 14:19:44 EST
From: "Kent, Saul" <>
Subject: Opposition To Cryonics 

	I agree with Thomas Donaldson that opposition to cryonics is weak.
In fact, I would categorize it more as *fear* of cryonics than opposition
coming out of any kind of strength and conviction.
	The primary reason for the problem Alcor had with the authorities
concerning my mother wasn't that they didn't want anything new, although
that is largely true, but that the issue became politicized because of
one sentence in the first story written about the case in the Riverside
newspaper, which led to a firestorm of media attention throughout the
world. Prior to that we had been working things out with the Coroner's
office in a reasonable, generally friendly fashion, and I suspect we
would have continued to do had the media storm not hit so quickly and so
devastatingly.
	As far as The Life Extension Foundation's problems with the FDA,
they are quite understandable. We have done everything possible to
challenge their authority and, in turn, they've tried to destroy us. The
message is that they have failed and will forever fail, not because of
our ideas or our innate goodness, but because we have fought them
tooth-and-nail in a manner that they have found very difficult to deal
with.
	In my opinion, the best and, ultimately, the *only* answer to
overcoming the opposition to cryonics and achieving the kind of success
we're looking for is to fund and conduct the kind of research needed to
improve our methods, and then use these advances to convince people we
have a credible product.  I don't believe anything short of that will
work. I further believe that we can achieve this objective for relatively
little money in a relatively short period of time.

---Saul Kent


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