X-Message-Number: 10572
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:08:44 -0400
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #10562 - #10570

HI everyone!

To Jan Coetzee: Calorie restriction begun in early life comes close to
doubling lifespan. However quite a number of studies (you should be able
to find them yourself) show in animals that calorie restriction begun
after puberty WILL increase lifespan. By not nearly as much, in fact
by about as much as various drugs are claimed to increase lifespan. But
the effect is still there.

It would have been good if the ongoing monkey experiments had also tried
using monkeys for which calorie restriction began after puberty, but
so far we have no such experiment for primates.

So we have the same problem with calorie restriction (begun as an adult)
as we do with all the other animal experiments suggesting increases in
lifespan. The fact that it doubles lifespan when started early is
irrelevant to readers of Cryonet, and probably to everyone interested in
treatments which might increase their longevity. (And if you are a bright
child and try it, your parents are likely to stop you very quickly).

Sorry, but I haven't memorized the references to what I say here. If
you are REALLY interested please write me a message directly and I will
dig them up.

To Charles Platt: If you read the actual proposals of Jeff Davis for
videos promoting cryonics, you will note that he does not promise a
damn thing. This casts some light on just what he means when he
writes about ethics here. Some people feel reluctant to promote 
cryonics at all since we certainly cannot promise that it will work.
As for myself, I do not feel reluctant because there is one thing I
am very sure I can promise: if you are NOT frozen then you will NOT
revive in the future.

Yes, I too would like to see the technology improve, and tried to push
for that ever since I joined a cryonics society. But research is slow,
and some of us (and yes, I'm thankful I wasn't among them) simply will
not live long enough to use those improved techniques. I assume that
you are happy to help such people become frozen, given that they want 
it.
			Best and long long life to all,

				Thomas Donaldson

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