X-Message-Number: 8322
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 13:10:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: More Virodene Facts

I hate to disrupt the fascinating philosophical debates about identity,
here, with a post that actually deals with (gasp) KNOWN FACTS IN THE
PHYSICAL WORLD, especially since I am also presenting bad news (and I know
how cryonicists hate bad news). But here are some facts about DMF (the
active ingredient in Visser's purported AIDS cure) from the Merck Index,
11th edition (kindly supplied to me by a non-cryonicist biochemist):

-------------------

LD50 (dose that is lethal to 50% of the experimental animals) for mice 
and rats:  6.8 and 7.6 milliters per kilogram body weight, orally; 6.2 
and 4.7 milliters per kilogram body weight, intraperitoneal (sic).

            Quote from section labeled "human toxicity":

"Vapor harmful.  Irritating to skin, eyes, and mucous membranes.  Liver 
injury has been produced in experimental animals by prolonged inhalation 
of 100 parts per million."

References are cited in the manual.

-------------------

So, if you BREATHE this stuff, it's bad news. What does that tell us 
about patients who had it applied directly to their skin, bearing in mind 
that it penetrates the skin, as I understand it, more effectively than 
DMSO? It tells me that Virodene provides the convenience of one-stop 
shopping. After it kills you, if you want to be frozen, you don't have to 
look around for a cryoprotectant. You've already been perfused!

Serious question for Robert Ettinger:

Does your faith in Ms. Visser extend to the point where you would be 
willing to apply a Virodene patch to your own arm? Just curious.

--CP

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