X-Message-Number: 22577
From: "Steve Harris" <>
References: <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #22570 The AAGA and Arizona politics
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:41:38 -0700

> Message #22570
> From: "Mark Plus" <>
> Subject: Some Officials Want State Regulation Of Cryonics
Firm
> Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 09:15:03 -0700
>
>
http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectio
nID=2&ArticleID=275
>
> Some Officials Want State Regulation Of Cryonics Firm
> New York, Florida Have Laws Overseeing Industry
>
> By Phil Riske
>
>
> The Scottsdale cryonics facility that a leading sports
magazine reported
> severed the head from the body of the late baseball great
Ted Williams
> should be regulated by the state, officials say.
>
> But  We can t touch them,  said Rudy Thomas, director of
the Arizona Board
> of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.



COMMENT

Ahem, here is Rudy Thomas, mistaking himself for the state.
Sorry, but Thomas represents the state agency which
regulates the state funeral industry, but not the part that
controls anatomical donations. The state of Arizona under
the Arizona Anatomical Gift Act (AAGA revised 1996) does
have control over some aspects of how bodies get to Alcor,
under what circumstances they leave Alcor, and to a minimal
extent what happens to them while they reside at Alcor (ie,
procedures must be performed by physicians, surgeons, or
"trained technicians.")



> Mr. Thomas says Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which
preserves bodies in
> liquid nitrogen tanks in hopes they might someday be
revived, is regulated
> by the federal Uniform Anatomical Gifts Act, which guides
the operations of
> organ donation organizations and research labs. Arizona
has a similar
> anatomical gift statute, but the state has no regulatory
authority over
> Alcor, he said.



COMMENT

Wrong. The AAGA would prohibit Alcor from outright selling,
or exchanging for valuable consideration, body parts to
third parties not covered under the AAGA, for example. Sell
is not the same as charging "reasonable payment for the
removal, processing, disposal, preservation, quality
control, storage, transportation, or implantation or a body
part" if the recipient institution is also covered in the
AAGA. Alcor cannot transfer body parts to parties, except as
specified by the AAGA.



When Thomas says the state has *no* regulatory authority
over Alcor, what he he's actually complaining about is that
the Arizona Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers doesn't
wield state authority over Alcor, and the state therefore
doesn't have as much authority as Thomas WANTS it to have,
because Alcor is regulated in another part of the law. But
that's not the same thing.


> The gift act allows Alcor to acquire full legal custody
over a body.



COMMENT

Yes, but "full" legal custody of a body is always still
regulated all the time. In matters of transfer to third
parties, again, AAGA regulation would remain in force.


 > The Arizona Anatomical Gift Act covers facilities
licensed, accredited or
> approved under the laws of any state for storage of human
bodies and parts
> and states that hospitals, organ procurement agencies and
accredited medical
> and dental schools may accept anatomical gifts  for
transplantation,
> therapy, medical or dental science.
>
> Mr. Thomas told the St. Petersburg Times the Food and Drug
Administration
> has regulatory authority over cryonics facilities, but
does not perform
> regular inspections.
>
> Kathleen Quinn of the agency s public affairs office told
Arizona Capitol
> Times the agency oversees  medical gases  that are used in
cryonics labs,
> but said it was unclear whether the FDA has overall
regulatory authority
> over Alcor.



COMMENT

Yes, indeed. The UAGA is a set of federal guidelines for
states in writing their laws, not a law itself. And FDA
derives power only as human tissues are intended for
therapeutic uses as covered in human medicine (or, I
suppose, as human food use if anybody wanted to sell to
cannibals). Scientific basic medical research with human
tissue, in so far as it does not include intention to
diagnose or treat disease, would not qualify for FDA
control.



(The USDA has power only over animals and animal tissues.
And over animal tissues when included in human foods. Thus,
cheese pizza is regulated by FDA, but add pepperoni and it
becomes entirely a USDA problem).



> If the Sports Illustrated report about Alcor s treatment
of Mr. Williams s
> remains is true, said Mr. Thomas, the facility is guilty
of mutilation.

> Arizona law prohibits mutilation of a body. Among several
allegations made
> by Larry Johnson, a former Alcor employee, are that Alcor
severed Mr.
> Williams s head, drilled holes in it and fractured the
skull, the magazine
> reported.
>
>  That to me is mutilation, if it happened,  Mr. Thomas
said.



COMMENT

What is done to bodies at medical schools also might be
"mutilation" to Mr. Thomas also, but that's irrelevant. The
law in Arizona actually does not prohibit the mutilation of
dead bodies  it only becomes mutilation if done without
force or coverage by law. The AAGA provides the law, and it
specifically allows technicians to remove body parts, and so
on, if the purpose is science or research. See
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/42leg/2r/bills/hb2315p.
htm. Funeral directors can't do that, and perhaps this is
what Mr. Thomas is complaining about. But scientific
institutions can, and funeral directors cannot, BECAUSE the
AAGA, which is the relevant 1996 Arizona State Law, **is
written that way.** Otherwise you can be sure Mr. Thomas
wouldn't be complaining to the legislature about it, but
rather would be going to the attorney general. Again, Mr.
Thomas calls things "unregulated" when the state actually is
explicitly authorizing an action that Mr. Thomas doesn't
*like* (cutting up bodies for science).  Regulating an
action does not mean outlawing it, fortunately.


> Mr. Thomas said he informed Lynette Evans, Governor
Napolitano s policy
> adviser for regulatory matters, of his concerns about
Alcor, and Rep. Bob
> Stump, R-Dist. 9, says he will introduce a bill next
session to regulate
> anatomical research facilities and companies that handle
the donation of
> human bodies and body parts.



COMMENT

They are already regulated. Just not put under the power of
Mr. Thomas and his board.

That's not happenstance. The federal uniform anatomical gift
act (after which the Arizona statute is modeled) never
intended funeral boards to regulate what happens to human
bodies in scientific research. It's not appropriate.


> New York and Florida have enacted laws regulating the
cryonics industry, Mr.
> Thomas said, and California and Michigan have applied
existing statutes to
> oversee the industry.



COMMENT

So has Arizona. Thomas doesn't like it.




> Mr. Thomas has called for the creation of a state level
board to regulate
> Alcor, but Rep. Linda Gray, R-Dist. 10, said,  It is a
good idea to bring
> this company under the regulation of the funeral directors
instead of
> creating another board.



COMMENT



If  Thomas asked for cryonics be regulated by Board he
represents, this would look like the naked power grab that
it is. So what do we see, instead? Thomas deceptively asks
for creation of a brand new state agency (which he knows
will never happen), and then one of the legislators stands
up right away to deliver the message that it's better to put
things into the hands of good old Mr. Thomas and his boys
(who we all know and love). Modest though they may be .



> Mr. Thomas put aside the belief among Alcor supporters
that medical
> scientists someday might be able to revive bodies that
have been frozen for
> years.
>
>  There s no difference between cryonics and cremation,  he
said.  You re
> gone forever.



COMMENT

In his opinion. However, meanwhile science has the last
word, and more scientific studies are necessary to uncover
the truth.  The AAGA is the regulation written to support
anatomical and medical studies of human tissues.  There you
are.



Alcor needs to spend time with the sponsoring legislator to
see how he got into the pocket of the funeral industry. Then
to remind some of the other legislators that the AAGA
already is the state's regulation intended to cover the
practice of cutting up bodies for research. Alcor is
regulated, just not in the way the funeral industry wants.



SBH

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