X-Message-Number: 21366 From: "Reason" <> Subject: life extension activism for the coming week; a small thing you can do to help Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2003 14:39:35 -0800 What's up for this week? Christopher Reeve -- an influential and wealthy advocate for medical research in the past -- has been speaking out recently against government legislation to criminalize research. He has spoken out against the bioethics council. In short, he is absolutely in our team, on our side of the field -- and probably one of the best-positioned people to actually make a difference. Have a look at this article: http://sci.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20893.html and position statements: http://www.christopherreeve.org/Research/R...chList.cfm?c=23 http://www.christopherreeve.org/hopenetwor...cfm?ID=388&c=53 and more explanations on theraputic cloning: http://www.christopherreeve.org/hopenetwor...cfm?ID=411&c=53 What can we do to help? Well, we can encourage him. Tell him we're rooting for him; let him know that large numbers of people support his statements and stance. I urge you to read the article, and compose a short note to submit here: http://www.christopherreeve.org/feedback/feedback.cfm Ideal notes congratulate Christopher Reeve and his staff on their increasingly vocal support for stem cell research and let him know that we support his position (and wish we could have as much influence, damnit...well ok, maybe not that last part). Here's a sample (BUT DON'T CUT AND PASTE! WRITE YOUR OWN!) -------- Dear Sirs, We were most impressed with Christopher Reeve's recent statements at the MIT and Harvard Hippocratic Societies' joint 2003 Conference on Neuroscience. It is very gratifying to see an advocate of his influence speaking out against the dangerous, cruel legislation and positions of the current US administration and the President's Council on Bioethics. There a great many people who share your views, but not your ability to speak and be heard, in the wider community. Everyone's future health will be hurt -- and hurt badly -- by future anti-research, anti-science legislation in medicine. More needs to be done to combat this trend. We salute you for taking this stance and speaking up: please continue to do so. Reason Founder, Longevity Meme http://www.longevitymeme.org/ -------- As a last note, if anyone knows any journalists or influential bloggers, this story needs wider exposure. Prod them, point them in the direction, point out the excellent newsworthiness of this article -- ex-superman star, criticizing government, stem cells, the works! A bunch of hot topics all rolled into one. See if we can get this picked up further afield. Reason Founder, Longevity Meme http://www.longevitymeme.org/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21366