X-Message-Number: 7967 Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 16:14:18 -0800 (PST) From: Olaf Henny <> Subject: Wanted Haven For Scientific Research There have been some alarming initiatives by governments or their agencies to curb the free development of scientific research and/or the trade of products resulting from such research. - Here is an excerpt from this page that explores societal reaction to death. I think it explains many people's reactions to cryonics. (See 1. below) - The USA recently banned funding for human cloning research... (See 2. below) - The FDA raids on The Life Extension Foundation (See: <http://www.lef.org/scripts/html_web_store.pl?page=/fda/victory.htm&cart_ id=&refpage=/fda/fda.htm> - Also if certain (German) Health bureaucrats succeed in (See 3. below) - In my native Canada ... at the Health Protection ...banned quite a few items, including DHEA. (See 4. below) I am quoting Doug Skrecky, because I am in complete agreement with him: -------------------------------------------------------------- "The bedfellows are obviously Governments and the pharmaceutical industry: In case of DHEA, if a substantial proportion of the population would suddenly live twenty years longer, the government pension plans as well as old age security funds, already in much cashflow and capital difficulty would be completely broke. So we cannot have you live any longer than your prescribed time. Now if we could just find a way to restrict smoking to those over 65 and encourage it there, so they would die of a little more effectively, that would save our financial butt. The cause of pharmaceutical companies is similar. If "alternative medicine" and unprofitable hormone treatments become popular, than who will pay us for our expensive brand name products." ----------------------------------------------------------------- I just want to add to this, that I am reluctant to die at the appropriate time like a good boy, just to make the governments' old age security plans look good. - Excessive spending by governments in recent decades has driven up taxes and money out into tax havens. - International industry has been for decades relocating into low labor cost markets.( See my comments to 3. below) - Outlawing human cloning makes just as much sense, as outlawing human organ transplants would have made after Christian Barnard's (sp?) successful heart transplant. - Primarily for reasons similar to the ones laid out in the article 1. below, I am afraid, that as soon as there has been a major breakthrough in cryonics reported, it also will face the wrath of all kinds of religious groups. I think, that the time has come, when we prudently start looking out for havens for free pursuit of science. At this time we are primarily concerned about alternative health sciences, research into prolongation of life and IMHO long term life preservation, such as cryonics, but who knows, what else will follow. The country(-ies)must be politically stable and small, so that economic impact would be consequential enough to raise the standard of living and therefore make this country independent from the goodwill of the major powers. Most of the tax havens in the Caribbean, which have already maverick systems are for obvious reasons discouraging residency, mainly because of their appeal to the retirement community and the various countries' reasonable policy to protect their citizens' right to (affordability of) property. Residency and the right to own property would be a requirement for researchers to do their work on a long term basis. Liechtenstein and Monaco, due to mountainous terrain have little room to accommodate an additional population. The countries that come to (my) mind (I am sure, there are others), which might be amenable to a prosperous, non-polluting industry are: - Iceland - Norway, which has already proclaimed its independent mindedness by declining membership in the EU. - Costa Rica, which has developed a strong eco-consciousness and would probably have use for a non-poluting research industry to bolster up national wealth. 1. An interesting website (actually a group of linked webpages) about death at http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/death.html Here is an excerpt from this page that explores societal reaction to death. I think it explains many people's reactions to cryonics. "As Richard Huntington and Peter Metcalf observed in Celebrations of Death, "life becomes transparent against the background of death" (1979:2). In a way analogous to the experimental method of subatomic physicists bombarding and shattering the nuclei of atoms in order to reveal their constituent parts and processes, death similarly reveals the most central social processes and cultural values. Death is a catalyst that, when put into contact with any cultural order, precipitates out the central beliefs and concerns of a people. Abram Rosenblatt et al. (1989) found, for example, that when reminded of their mortality, people react more harshly toward moral transgressors and become more favorably disposed toward those who uphold their values. In one experiment, twenty-two municipal judges were given a battery of psychological tests. In the experimental group, eleven judges were told to write about their own death, including what happens physically and what emotions are evoked when thinking about it. When asked to set bond for a prostitute on the basis of a case brief, those who had thought about their death set an average bond of $455, while the average in the control group was $50. The authors concluded (Greenberg et al. 1990) that when awareness of death is increased, in-group solidarity is intensified, out-groups become more despised, and prejudice and religious extremism escalate. " Randy 2. CLONING AND GENOME RIGHTS The USA recently banned funding for human cloning research, because of pressure from public opinion. Various examples of laws against genetic modification, are a fact in many western societies already. And laws against cloning are currently being discussed. Doug Skrecky: 3. Also if certain (German) Health bureaucrats succeed in banning many supplements world-wide through their Codex/Gestapo organization spices are going to be one of the things that will still be left available for use as life extension supplements. **** My comment: **** In Germany the worlds largest chemical - pharmaceutical company, Hoechst is leaving the country: Now if we can really crank down on alternative medicine, then maybe Bayer and I.G. Farben will stick around. Doug Skrecky again: 4. In my native Canada the local bureaucrats at the Health Protection Branch are acting in concert with the Codex and have banned quite a few items, including DHEA. Canadians will now be liable to arrest if they purchase DHEA, since this is now classified as a controlled drug. Olaf Henny Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7967