X-Message-Number: 6660 Date: 01 Aug 96 07:41:11 EDT From: Andrew Davidson <> Subject: Frozen embryo destruction in UK Currently there is a lot of news coverage in the UK about the destruction of frozen embryos left over from in-vitro fertility treatments. The particular issue is a government act which mandates their destruction after 5 years if the parents have not asked for them to be kept. The first 5 years is now up. What is interesting is that those campaigning against this destruction have no trouble with the idea of frozen human beings. The news coverage shows pictures of steaming dewars - very akin to cryonics coverage - but there are no overtones (to me) of Dr Frankenstein. The other news shots tend to show protestors holding candle-lit vigils or proud mothers and children that have benefitted from this technology. Now this is closely related to anti-abortion protests and the key issue is whether an embryo is human or not. The cryonics we have in mind is different in many ways but there are enough similarities that the legal and PR precedents warrant attention. Apropos the Prometheus project, can I ask why it is that the technology of freezing embryos and other viable biological matter seems to have been mastered now but that the technology of freezing brains has not? What are the essential differences and problems when one scales up the process? Andrew Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=6660