X-Message-Number: 8836
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 01:00:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Journalist Uncovers Visser/Cryonics Connection

Earlier this year I speculated that sooner or later, some enterprising 
journalist could uncover Olga Visser's "cryonics connection" merely by 
conducting a search via Dejanews and AltaVista.

It finally happened, exactly as I predicted. Today I received email from a
South African writer who has read all the Visser posts to sci.cryonics and
to CryoNet (archived on Keith Lynch's web page), and also seems to have
read my description of Visser's failed demo at the Technology Festival
earlier this year (archived on the CryoCare web page). She (the
journalist) says she has no special interest in making fun of the "head
freezers" but I understand she will be calling Alcor to get a comment. 

Needless to say, cryonics can do without this kind of publicity. On the
other hand, I feel it would be even worse for us to hide our errors,
Soviet-style, or (worst of all) pretend that the Visser experiment was a
huge success. 

The South African journalist also sent me news of Visser's activities 
during the past few months:

> The Cryonet archive
> only goes as far as Nov 18 so I'm not sure if you're aware of the latest
> news on Visser: that she has continued to dispense Virodene /
> dimethylformamide illegally to Aids patients and that criminal charges are
> being investigated.  Zigi Visser has also claimed that Virodene is being
> produced and distributed in several African countries -- a chilling 
> thought. 

--Charles Platt

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