X-Message-Number: 9442
From: Ettinger <>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 18:18:59 EDT
Subject: Platt's Non-Citations

Cns0410.98a

PLATT'S NON-CITATIONS

Charles Platt's #9431 refers to his "carefully itemized evidence" (!)
attacking the record on CI procedures. In fact--unless I have gone blind--his
MAIN and endlessly repeated accusation, that the Ukrainian sheep head work
used ramped glycerine and ours did not, was supported by NO citations and NO
indication of the source of this "information." We, on the other hand, have
supplied specific references; and we will soon post the entire reports (freely
available since November 1994) on our web site.

Once more: Charles says that the procedures used by CI on humans are not the
ones that were tested by us on sheep heads, and are not the ones tested on
sheep heads in the Ukraine. This is DEAD WRONG. The procedure tested on sheep
heads in the Ukraine was the SAME as the one we used on our sheep heads--it
was DESIGNED and INTENDED to be the same; that was the PURPOSE of the
independent work. The only difference in our human procedures relates to
mechanics (pumps instead of syringes because of the larger size etc.). There
was one pass with 75% glycerine in the perfusion phase, no ramping up. This
was true with our sheep heads, with the Ukrainian sheep heads, and with our
patients.

 The Ukrainian professional cryobiologists and electron microscopists
concluded that the result is relatively good (and immensely better than with
uncontrolled freezing) and that there was no cracking at all visible either to
the naked eye or to the microscope. (Cracking had been a serious problem with
methods used elsewhere.)  

The investigators were principally Dr. Yuri Pichugin of the Institute for
Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine at Kharkov University, and Prof.
Gennadi Zhegunov, Chairman, Dept. of Biology, Kharkov Medical University.
Their detailed reports were published in THE IMMORTALIST issues of August,
September, and November, 1994, including a selection of photos with the light
microscope and the electron microscope. (The complete set was supplied to our
severest critics and to others who made the request.)

Now then, Charles, one more time: Where is the citation, where is the source,
where is the documentation, for your assertion that the Ukrainians used
ramped-up glycerine concentrations rather than following our procedure with
the sheep heads? I am sure your error was not intentional, because it exposes
you to so much embarrassment, but I think you have an obligation to specify
your source or explain what caused your confusion.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.com

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