X-Message-Number: 19982 Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 08:35:42 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: CryoNet #19979 - #19981 For "Basie": While I am not affiliated with any drug companies and cannot answer for them, a few points about aging itself need to be mentioned. Basically aging is a quite GENERAL breakdown in the body and brain of the aging person. To say that statins help heart disease but the victim of heart disease still doesn't live much longer than otherwise just emphasizes the generality of aging itself. Most people, other than unfortunates born with a genetic fault which causes them to get heart disease early in life, get heart disease BECAUSE they have grown old, and their defenses against it which worked fine when they were younger have ceased to work now. And as you can guess, even if we cure heart disease completely, older people will still show the same breakdowns, and come down with some other fatal condition a few years later. So I would not resent the drug companies too much. They too are still stuck with the beliefs about aging which are even now are far too common: it is inevitable, should not be fought against, a normal condition, etc etc. And so when they say it cures heart disease, they don't mean it prolongs life. They wouldn't put it this way, but they are saying that it keeps you from dying from heart disease so that you can die of cancer instead. Best and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19982