NEWS & VIEWS

President's Report

This issue of THE IMMORTALIST (as with the previous issue) is being sent gratis to every CI Member (one per household) in the United States. This policy will continue at least until the end of 2004. Postage costs outside the United States makes the expense of regularly sending free issues prohibitive, but the last issue of 2004 will be sent to all CI Members everywhere (one per household).

This policy is being implemented on an experimental basis -- in 2005 we may either resume with fully paid subscriptions or switch to online publication. CI Members who have been subscribing will have their subscriptions extended in 2005 if paper-publication with paid subscriptions resumes, or can receive a refund if paper publication does not continue.

Since writing my last President's Report CI has had three more patients bringing the total for the first half of 2004 to five, about as many as we have ever had in any full year. I wish the quality of patient care had been better.

CI’s 63^rd patient suffered a heart attack at home on Monday. He was not discovered and pronounced dead until several hours later. He was refrigerated at the morgue and soon released to one of our funeral directors who held him at water-ice temperature for over a day while it was determined whether financing was available to cryopreserve. Then he was cooled in dry ice for at least another day.

The Patient is a big man: 6' 3" and weighing nearly 300 pounds, he was too large for an insulated Ziegler (steel shipping coffin). Laying on an air tray he used a prodigious amount of dry ice. He is currently being cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature.

It is not feasible to perfuse after several hours of warm ischemia because of clotting and vascular damage. But neurological damage is slower and takes much longer. Dry ice cooling should have been initiated immediately upon discovery.

In the hope of reducing the number of losses of members living alone I have been testing two alarm systems with Robert Ettinger and plan soon to test a third. I will be reporting on my investigations in a forthcoming issue of THE IMMORTALIST.

CI's 64th Patient deanimated shortly after midnight on Sunday morning, May 16^th. The event caught too many people by surprise. Knowing he had cancer, the member's paperwork and funding were in order. But he was living at home and apparently getting better thanks to his new Erbitux treatments.

His deterioration was very sudden -- he was in the hospital only about a day before his deanimation. The hospital staff was not informed of his cryonics arrangements, nor was many in his family, although his wife had signed a next-of-kin form. The funeral director had been forewarned and responded fairly rapidly. CI only learned of the deanimation from the funeral director.

The Patient's family should have understood the importance of contacting CI immediately when the member went to the hospital, the hospital staff should have been informed and persons willing to stand by to render immediate CPS should have been found. My commitment as CI President is that CI Members/Patients will benefit as a result of my being President. I am not proud of my role in this case. Complacency about apparently recovered cancer patients can be hazardous.

I have resolved to have more personal discussions with CI Members who are cancer patients, their family and their funeral directors.

Patient 65 was a "last-minute" case which demonstrated many of the things that can go wrong for people who sign-up at the last minute. We were initially contacted about 8pm Eastern Standard Time and the patient deanimated at about 4am EST the next morning.

The patient was a cancer victim living in the Los Angeles area. Both her son and brother were intent on having her cryopreserved, but did not have much familiarity with cryonics. They chose a funeral home and hospital well before the time they contacted us. They were unaware that we use cryoprotectants, but agreed to a credit card charge for us to express courier our perfusate to their funeral home.

We will not accept a full cryopreservation fee on a credit card and it takes the better part of a day to wire funds or express-courier a cashier's check. Too late we learned that the funeral home refused to do the perfusion, refused to allow anyone else to do a perfusion on their premises and objected to having two boxes of perfusate couriered to their address.

Our funeral directors' network cannot be utilized unless there is a commitment that a paid-up Member is at immediate risk. Without cash-in-hand we cannot be certain that a last-minute case will not result in a last-minute change-of-mind, so we had to find another funeral director outside of our usual network.

I contacted my friend Russell Cheney, who was in Florida. Russell has been a local response coordinator for Alcor in the Los Angeles area. In addition to his recommendation of a funeral director Russell gave me a list of phone numbers for Alcor volunteers in the LA area. I was reluctant to contact these people, thinking that there might be "political" ramifications to circumventing official Alcor approval. Later I decided I would try to contact them the next day -- which proved to be too late. I think a number of them would have agreed to stand-by and apply ice and CPR upon pronouncement of death. I would not have been circumventing official approval, either, because an agreement for such co-operation had been made at the CryoSummit, although renewing the discussion with the new Alcor administration would be a good idea.

Arrangements were made with the second funeral director and the courier was instructed to redirect the perfusate to his premises. The first funeral home was still responsible for the patient, however, and they phoned us at 4:30am informing us that they were removing the patient from the hospital. Incredibly, the hospital told the funeral home that they had no ice. We instructed them to get ice at a convenience store. The patient was transported back to the funeral home and placed in refrigeration.

After having initially agreed to take the patient, the second funeral director changed his mind and decided he didn't want to do it. Because we still did not have cash-in-hand we decided to work with a funeral director in San Diego who had done a previous case for us. We called the courier company and told them to redirect the perfusate to San Diego.

The first funeral home drove the patient to San Diego. When the San Diego funeral home opened two boxes from the courier company to begin the perfusion they discovered computer parts. The parts had not been expected, although they did belong to the funeral home (were correctly addressed) and were delivered by the same courier company. The courier company found the boxes of perfusate in a Los Angeles warehouse and sent them to San Diego. In their defense they said that good service cannot be expected when re-directing shipment twice en route.

As the general public learns more about cryonics I hope they also get the message that cryonics arrangements are not to be made while on a deathbed. Unfortunately, there are also many people who know a great deal about cryonics who think that last-minute arrangements are preferable for economic or other reasons. I think such people are making a big mistake.

A huge difference could have been made to patient care if one of our Members could have been on hand to render assistance. It would have helped even to get ice at a convenience store. Someone willing to stand by could have immediately packed ice on the patient and encourage hospital staff or a funeral director to inject heparin. If the Member-volunteer did not want to do chest-compressions, a hospital staff person might have been encouraged to do it.

I have created a column in our database that will indicate CI Members who may help in a cryonics case. We will not phone Members who do not give permission to be contacted and we will recognize that circumstances in your life may often mean you are unavailable. Cryonics is not an established industry and Members cannot afford to have a passive consumer-mentality. We are building our own lifeboats. We are few and far between. If we want others to help us when we need cryonics we should think of offering help to others.

If you may be willing to sometimes help in a cryonics case, please let Andy Zawacki (our CI Facilities Manager) know that you can be called. Send him an e-mail at CIHQ@... -- CIHQ (at) aol.com -- or phone

(586) 791-5961 or write 24355 Sorrentino Court; Clinton Township, MI 48035 with instructions to list you as a possible volunteer.

Elsewhere in this issue should be my review of available personal emergency response equipment, which could help reduce the time between deanimation and cryonics rescue -- or perhaps save lives. Those with a cell phone who can call an emergency number with the push of a button might get-along without these devices (although the situation may change when vital signs monitoring becomes available in 2005) -- as long as the phone call results in a reliable human connection.

Otherwise I recommend the Magnavox MobilePal+GPS which provides instant access to a live operator who can locate you for a monthly fee of $19.95. A drawback is the bulkiness of the device, which should be worn on the belt. For those who are house-bound a pendant or wrist-watch type "panic button" may be more convenient, but a product with a lower monthly fee than the Pioneer unit we have been testing might be as good.

I had been hoping to report on deployment of Dr. Yuri Pichugin's vitrification formula, but we received a setback. We were very encouraged by the fact that potassium/sodium ratios (a measure of viability) were as good for rat brains perfused with vitrification solution and cooled to -130oC and rewarmed, as for brains perfused without cooling. Even better, the less expensive commercial grade reagents are as good as the expensive grades.

The setback came when we tried to make electron micrographs (EMs). The results were terrible -- as bad for the samples cooled to -130oC as for the samples held at freezer temperatures. Based on the viability measures and gross appearance of rat brains and sheep brains perfused with vitrification formula, we believe the bad EM results were artifacts. In preparing EMs the brain is perfused with Karnovsky's solution in addition to the vitrification solution. They were stored for a long time at freezer temperature while we sought a good university lab to do the EMs. They were shipped at ice temperature, because we had no good way to ship at freezer temperature. We are uncertain of the quality of work at the university we chose.

Dr. Pichugin has now had to devote himself to studying how to better prepare EMs. He prepared another batch of samples, and this time he cut millimeter cubes from the brains and fixed them in osmium tetroxide.

We have sent these cubes to a Canadian lab which did good work for us before and are awaiting the results. EMs are frightfully expensive and it is a harrowing experience to be learning from EMs on a trial-and-error basis. Contributions to the Research Fund are always welcome and are tax-deductable. E-mail CIHQ@... or phone (586) 791-5961 if you have questions. Credit card payment is accepted.

Dr. Pichugin will be taking the month of July for a vacation in his native Ukraine.

He is preparing samples for EM work in Ukraine, which would be less expensive

-- although they must be carried at room temperature. He also hopes to find an inexpensive Russian light-microscope which he can buy for use in our Research Facility.

I myself will be spending much of July "on vacation" in China. I expect to attend the annual Society for Cryobiology Conference which is being held in Beijing this year (http://128.163.148.84/cryo2004/). With Robert Ettinger as Vice-President and Andy Zawacki as Facilities Manager, CI will be in good hands while I am away.

I remind all CI Members of the Cryonics Institute and Immortalist Society Annual General Meetings which are being held on Sunday, September 19, 2004 at the CI Facility in Clinton Township, Michigan. This will be an excellent opportunity to visit the Facility, meet other CI Members (along with Staff, Officers and Directors) and get a lively experience of the issues that face our organization. A buffet dinner is served to all who attend. Please notify us in if you do plan to attend. The AGMs are open to the public, but we must have advance notice of who is attending to plan for seating and buffet.

As announced on March 23 the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Cryonics Institute will be Sunday, 19-Sept-2004. There are currently 12 Directors and 4 of the 12 are elected to their positions every 3 years. The 4 Directors up for re-election this year are:

Any CI Member who is an Option One Member or has been a paid-up Option

Two Member for at least two years is eligible to be a Director and to vote for

Directors. A Director candidate must be nominated by another CI Member who

is qualified to vote, either at the AGM or beforehand (nomination in this forum

would be acceptable). A candidate need not attend the AGM to be elected.

An important qualification for a Director candidate is active use of e-mail insofar as most decisions are based on discussions held by e-mail. There is no requirement for physical presence at any meeting, so geography is not a limitation. (Two of our Directors currently live in the UK.)

It is not too early to be giving thought to who might make a suitable Director

or who might want to run for the office.

It seems likely that all the existing Directors will be candidates.

The AGM will be held at the CI facility in Michigan.

Male 337

Female 118

USA 334

Non USA 111

Option One 339

Option Two 116

The eleven "lost" Members I reported earlier have mostly been found, but we have changed the definitions slightly. By our current definition a "lost" Member is someone for whom we do not have a current address, but for whom we have a good prospect of getting a current address. We have two "lost" Members based on the fact that we are getting a message on their answering machine and we are expecting to eventually make contact.

Not counted as Members are those in our "inactive" file. This includes people who have renounced their membership and who say they want to be cremated or buried rather than cryopreserved. Such people may change their mind again, in which case they can be activated again upon request if they are Option One. Option Two Members who have stopped paying dues must pay an initiation fee and resume dues to be activated again.

Member we have inactivated is a man we believe is now living in South Africa who has not contacted us since five years ago when he was living in Michigan as a University student doing a PhD thesis. His e-mail address and mailing address are defunct. If he contacts us and gives us an address, we will reactivate him.

Ben Best

The controversy surrounding the suspension of Ted Williams by Alcor continues

The latest development is that an Arizona paper has entered the fray. The Arizona Republic has joined the daughter of Ted Williams in a court battle to view documents held by a cryonics lab where Williams has been frozen to determine if he legally consented to have his remains stored at the facility.

The newspaper filed a motion late last week in Arizona Superior Court to unseal documents filed by Alcor Life Extension Foundation in response to a civil suit filed by Williams' daughter, Bobby Jo Ferrell, seeking to force Alcor to produce documentation proving that her father's remains were legally given to the Scottsdale cryonics lab.

`They claim to be in compliance with the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act but they want to hide everything they've done and they want to hide everything in the court file,'' Ferrell's attorney, John Heer, said of Alcor yesterday.

Ferrell has long wanted to claim her father's remains and have him cremated

based on his original will, but the body went to Alcor after his death in 2002.

Ferrell's half-brother, John Henry Williams, who died of leukemia in March,

reportedly obtained his father's approval to be placed at Alcor after his death.

John Henry's will states that his remains be kept at Alcor.

Although Ferrell gave up her right to claim her father's remains as part of a $215,000 settlement with his Florida estate, Heer is seeking to examine her father's contract with Alcor to see if it conforms with the Anatomical Gift Act.

If Ferrell’s attorney can prove Ted Williams was sent to Alcor without his written permission, he hopes to circumvent Ferrell's agreement with her father's estate and lay claim to the baseball Hall of Famer's remains.

Attorneys for Alcor have filed their responses and an affidavit opposing

Ferrell's motion under seal. The Republic, citing public access laws, has joined Heer's effort to have the Alcor court filings unsealed. ``Alcor has taken steps that are absolutely unheard of to seal the entire court file,'' said Heer. ``This is not your normal court situation so it's going to be interesting to see what happens." Just before we went to press, the Ferrell’s announced they were stopping all legal action. Stay tuned!

The American Association of Anti-Aging Medicine is planning two conventions this year. The first will be in Chicago on August 20-22. The second will be in Las Vegas on December 3-5.

Some of the subjects covered will be Stem cell therapy, Cosmetic office procedures, Brain aging, Laboratory biomarkers of aging, Nanotechnology, Obesity drugs and minimally invasive obesity surgery, Anti-Aging therapies, Heavy metals/environmental detoxification and Hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

The events are billed as "attracting 5000 physicians, scientists, exhibitors and key members of the industry and media."

For information call 1-800 558-1267

_________________________________

An hour after a 22 month old boy was pronounced dead, a hospital nurse who was preparing the body for funeral home pickup noticed movement in his chest. He was submerged in a canal for 30 minutes after wandering away from his babysitter. An officer gave him CPR, and emergency workers tried to revive him, with no success.

He was subsequently removed to a local hospital in Boise, Idaho. A few days later his condition was still listed as critical.

________________________________

EDITORS CORNER

QUICKIES

NEWS & VIEWS

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Thanks to the generous donations of Hugh Hart, many persons have been receiving THE IMMORTALIST without having to renew their subscriptions. Hugh Hart is now one of our patients and the Immortalist Society can no longer affort to underwrite subscriptions. Renewal notices have been mailed to everyone who is not paid-up. Subscription renewal information can be found on our website http://www.cryonics.org/info.html or elsewhere in this issue of THE IMMMORTALIST (or pay by credit card by phoning 586-791-5961).

Although we are not aggressively looking quite yet, the time is approaching when we will need another full-time employee working at the Cryonics Institute facility in Clinton Township, Michigan. We would want someone who is reliable, competent, willing to work for a modest wage and someone who is likely to remain with us for many years (ie, someone wanting to devote the rest of his/her life to cryonics and who has the prospect of living for quite a few more years). The job would include both office work (Member paperwork, computer data-entry, etc.) and physical labor (cryostat maintenance, patient perfusion assistance, etc.) Anyone interested should contact me at benbest@....

Robert Ettinger is kindly testing two emergency monitoring systems. I will shortly be obtaining a third. I expect to be reporting on all these systems in the next issue of THE IMMORTALIST.

Male....328

Female..114

United States....332

England.............43

Australia............17

Canada...............14

Netherlands.........8

Germany.............6

Spain...................4

Sweden...............3

Belgium.............2

New Zealand.......2

Austria...............1

Chile..................1

Denmark............1

Greece...............1

Italy...................1

Japan.................1

Malta.................1

Mexico..............1

Russia...............1

Switzerland.......1

Ukraine.............1

BY STATES IN THE USA (5 or more Members)

Florida.............36

Michigan..........33

California.........33

New York.........28

Texas................26

Colorado...........15

Kentucky..........13

Illinois..............11

Arizona............11

Maine................9

Pennsylvania.....8

Washington.......8

Georgia..............8

Indiana..............7

Massachusetts...7

New Jersey........6

Virginia.............6

Maryland...........5

North Carolina..5

Ben Best

_______________________________

Toward the end of March an elderly CI Member collapsed in the street and was taken to a hospital where he died of coronary artery disease. The man had been an Option One CI Member for nearly nine years. He had prepaid the $28,000 required for his cryopreservation, which we have been holding on his behalf. His closest relative is a first cousin who was designated as the Member's primary heir on the Member Questionnaire. The cousin signed a "Consent/Release for Cryonic Suspension" form shortly after the Member joined CI.

Early in April we received an e-mail from the cousin indicating that the Member had "regrettably" been autopsied and asking how the prepaid funds could be returned. A series of e-mails were exchanged over a period of a week or more after which we received an e-mail indicating that the Member had been cremated. These e-mails are the only information we have concerning the conditions surrounding the Member's death.

We don't know how long the Member was in the hospital before he died. We don't know what kind of autopsy was done -- if it concerned a heart investigation the brain may have remained intact, although a week or two at refrigeration temperature would have resulted in considerable deterioration.

Five days before the cremation Robert Ettinger demanded the body, but the cousin saw no reason to send "mutilated" remains. Partly because of the condition of the remains I was reluctant to threaten legal action, but I finally did so a day before the cremation. The cousin may not have been checking his e-mail, but when he did reply he said that we were too late because the cremation had been done.

At one stage of the e-mail exchange the cousin said that he was away on business at the time. (The time of the collapse? The time of the autopsy?) At another stage the cousin insisted that the Member had told nurses that he wanted his body donated to science. The cousin insisted that this could not be a reference to cryonics or else the Member would have said cryonics. The cousin indicated that he had attempted to honor the Member's desire to donate organs, but that medical authorities regarded the elderly body to be unsuitable. Presumably if the cousin believed the Member still wanted cryonics he could have honored that wish and requested cryonics protocol -- rapid cooling at least -- or a restricted autopsy.

Possibly the Member did tell nurses he wanted his body donated to science, but if so he probably meant cryonics. In 2002 the Member requested and received a large set of back issues of THE IMMORTALIST. Also in 2002 he had received a new CI bracelet. The fate of the bracelet is unknown.

The Member indicated in his "Rider A" that in the event that he was not cryopreserved that the money should be given to his estate rather than to CI. Thus, the money goes mainly to the cousin -- the primary heir. The CI Board of Directors recognizes that CI must return the money because CI has not delivered service and because of the stipulations in Rider A. To have held on to the money would have made CI appear as money-grubbing as the cousin appears to have been (even more money-grubbing to media, if media attention was attracted).

If there is an object lesson here for CI Members it is that it can be dangerous to entrust one's cryopreservation to a person who would greatly benefit from a failure to cryopreserve -- especially when that person has little respect for cryonics or the wishes of the cryonicist.

I do hope that the recent cremation of a CI Member by his cousin has raised some alarm bells among CI Members concerning the possible dangers represented by the legal powers of nearest relatives who are not cryonicists or respectful of the wishes of cryonicists.

Not a single member of my rather large family has any interest in cryonics. My brother thinks I am a "chicken shit" for not wanting to "die like a man".

Most of the rest are very fundamentalist. For this reason I have made Canadian cryonicist Christine Gaspar my Power of Attorney for Personal Care in a document drawn up by Bruce Waugh (who is a Canadian cryonicist and lawyer) and by Christine Gaspar (who is a Canadian cryonicist and emergency medicine nurse).

The key features of this document are that my Power of Attorney is directed to ensure that I want life support to continue if I am in a vegetative state, but that if it is determined that to continue in that state then a cryonics rescue team is to be assembled and life support withdrawn once the cryonics rescue team is in place. A copy of the document is on the Cryonics Society of Canada website:

http://198.173.255.200/cryocdn/attorney.html

As you can see by examining the document, it makes reference to Canadian statutes which would not be applicable to CI Members not living in Canada. Perhaps the UK CI Members could modify this document for their own needs and I will ask David Ettinger if we can make a similar document available on the CI website which would be suitable for CI Members living in the United States.

The bottom line is that if you have friends who are more supportive of cryonics than your relatives, you should strongly consider giving those friends the Power of Attorney over the fate of your body rather than allowing your relatives to have that control.

Ben Best

In the United States, Living Will and Power of Attorney for Health Care are implemented on a state-by-state basis. The "Partnership for Caring" acts as a clearing-house by providing state-specific information about these matters. They have a hotline at 1-800-989-9455 which anyone with questions is free to call. You can try entering your state and other information to download these legal documents:

http://www.partnershipforcaring.org/Advance/documents_set.html

Remember that a cryonicist would not want life support withdrawn before a cryonics rescue team is in place. And a cryonicist must be clear that his/her physical remains are to be cryopreserved. The California Advanced Health Care Directive combines the ability to appoint an agent (Power of Attorney for Health Care) with the ability to give directions to that agent (Living Will) concerning Health Care and Final Wishes:

http://www.cmanet.org/publicdoc.cfm/7

Yvan Bozonetti announced on Cryonet that he expects to begin construction on a French laser experimental project. It’s aim is to build a technological center geared towards brain reader-scanner at molecular levels. More broadly, it would put in public hands some high technology such as powerful lasers or cryogenic technologies and some more basic ones such metal working or casting. Blueprints for the first unit may be seen at: www.freewebs.com/mz2/lesite.htm

He has the building permit and has closed the first round of financing.

By John Bull

The move was originally planned for last fall, but had to be cancelled because of CI’s problems with the State of Michigan. Once these problems had been resolved, planning resumed. The planners were Jim Yount, at the California end, and Ben Best and Andy Zawacki at the Michigan end.

John Day, representing the American Cryonics Society, (ACS) and myself met Andy and Dan as planned, at the Best Western in Rancho Cucamonga, Friday evening, April 2^nd. The Critical Care Research (CCR) people invited us and Mike Quinn and Chris Dougherty (from Suspended Animation) out to dinner. Mike and Chris had arrived a few days earlier and had spent some time at the CCR facility. After a delicious meal hosted by CCR, and some lively conversation, we agreed to meet the next morning at CCR’s facility at 7:30 AM.

We were met by CCR’s Sandra Russell, Mike and Chris arrived shortly, and also Mike Connaughton. Mike was a big help as he was part of the group from CryoSpan that placed the patients in the capsule a number of years ago. Andy started piping LN2 into the transport tanks he had brought from Michigan. When there was sufficient LN2 in the tanks, the workers started the slow process of removing the patients and placing them in the tanks.

The plan was for Andy and Dan to drive the truck with the two transport tanks with the patients, and John Day and myself to follow with the "back up" vehicle. The backup truck had one empty transport tank, and two full LN2 dewars. We had walkie talkie and cell phone communication between the vehicles. After all the patients were placed in the transport tanks and another dinner hosted by CCR, around 6PM we were ready to move out. After driving around five hours, we stopped at a very large casino just over the Nevada state line. The place had a parking lot the size of ten football fields, and was almost empty. Unbelievable as it sounds, they said they were "sold out."

After driving a few more hours, we found a motel that had just opened. Considering the hour, it didn’t matter that there were no keys to the rooms. We could lock the door, but from the outside, if we wanted to get back in, we had to go get someone from the front desk to open it! (Something about it being a new Motel, and there was a mixup in delivering the keys)

The next day, Sunday started uneventfully, although there was some confusion as to the time, between crossing time zones, and daylight saving time that took effect at 2AM that morning. By early afternoon, with Andy and Dan a few miles ahead we were on Interstate 80, chugging up a mountain when there was a thunderous noise from the engine compartment. The truck stopped dead in the road and although the engine was running it wouldn’t engage the transmission.. It was only because of John Day’s skillful maneuvering of the truck that we were able to roll back and off the road and on to the shoulder. I shudder to think how long it would take for someone to ram into us if we didn’t get off the active lane quickly. We told Andy by cell phone of our situation, and John Day urged Andy to keep going as the sooner the patients reached CIHQ, the better.

A few hours later we were being towed by a monster tow truck with a sleeper cab back to Salt Lake City. We stayed in a motel in the city that night, and the next day the rental company brought out a replacement vehicle. By mid afternoon, approximately 24 hours after our breakdown we were rolling again. Since we were a day behind Andy, he couldn’t use the LN2 dewars we had to top off the transport tanks. Instead he stopped late Monday at one of the LN2 depots he had previously made arrangements with, in an emergency.

So instead of providing back up, we, the "backup crew" had to be rescued ourselves, and for the rest of the trip while we kept in contact with Andy, he was always a day ahead of us, and arrived at CIHQ Tuesday afternoon, April 6^th. We, in the "rescue" vehicle arrived late Wednesday.

We were at CIHQ just a few hours when Jim Walsh, CI’s Funeral Director delivered an insulated box with an Australian patient in it. It contained the body of a middle aged woman who had died of breast cancer. Andy remarked on its excellent construction and insulation, noting that despite 17 hours flying time, there was still enough dry ice to maintain dry ice temperature.

Mike Quinn had flown up from Florida earlier in the day. Around 8:30PM he, Ben Best, Dave Fulcher and Andy started removing the patients and placing them in CI’s cryostats. Bob Ettinger, John Day and I were observers. The job was finished by 11PM.

By 7:30 the next morning John Day was on a plane headed back to California, and Mike Quinn and I were on planes bound for different parts of Florida. For me, it was six days after I had left home.

MEET BRENT FOX

I have known of the concept of "suspended animation" since I was first exposed to it when I was about six years old. The Sci-Fi films Planet of the Apes, and Gene Roddenberry’s Genesis II made the biggest impact on me concerning the subject.

I learned about cryonics around 1978, after reading an article in Future Life magazine, and then realized that cryonics is the closest thing to "suspended animation" that there is available with today’s technology.

I have a Cryonic Suspension contract in place with the Cryonics Institute. I know that there is no guarantee that cryonics will work, but I will take my chances with cryonics. It’s certainly better than the alternatives. Cryonic suspension provides me with the possibility of reaching advanced medical aid for when the time comes that I will need it. Should cryonics work, the rewards will be unimaginable. I’d like to see the world of three hundred years or more from now. It will be quite an adventure.

I believe the biggest hindrance to the success of cryonics will be social issues and not technology. Will society continue to allow cryonics? Will society permit the revival of those in suspension? Will the human species even survive to the point where technology can accomplish revival?

Although my wife is not a cryonicist, she is supportive of my decision. My best friend probably thinks that I have read and seen too much sci-fi.

I’ve not yet had the opportunity to visit CI, or Alcor. I’d certainly like to go up to Michigan to personally meet Bob Ettinger. I would also like to head west and take a vacation out at David Pizer’s Creekside Preserve. I’d love to see the future site of Ventureville. I think David has a wonderful idea that would benefit all cryonicists.

About twelve years ago, I found out that there was a fellow cryonicist who lived in a neighboring town just twenty five miles away. We chatted on the phone a few times, but our schedules didn’t sync before he moved out of state. The Internet is a fantastic tool. I’ve bandied some email with Dave Pizer, Mike Perry, Rudi Hoffman, and James Swayze. It’s been wonderful to be able to communicate with such brilliant people who share similar beliefs as your own. James and I have even started, perhaps the first, cryo-chess match.

I am forty years of age. I have three years of college. I have several years experience in the law enforcement field, and now work as an investigator with a criminal prosecutor’s office in Georgia.

In my spare time I enjoy reading science fiction. My favorite authors are Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and Isaac Asimov. I also enjoy reading science fact, with emphasis on cosmology and quantum theory. I’m an amateur astronomer, who enjoys dragging the wife outside on cold winter nights to gaze at Jupiter or Saturn. I’m also a techno-computer geek who is trying to convince the wife that we really do need that ER2 home robot, or at least an Aibo.

Editors Corner

News and Views

Conditions to Licensure as a Cemetery

Cryonics Friendly Countries

Hugh Hart's Generosity and Cryopreservation

Quickies

Life Extension News

Final Departures

CI Member Policies to Remember

Cryonics Mission to Mars

Death and Cryonics: A Case for Immortality

Cold Water Drownings

Two Davids

Long Term Personal Storage at CI

EDITOR'S CORNER

There aren't many perks that come with an editors job. (This editor anyway!) But over the years, we have received three. The first was an online version of The First Immortal sent by James Halperin.

Then a few years ago, the English publisher Hodder & Stoughton sent us Barry Albin's Don't Drop the Coffin. And now again thanks to Barry Albins literary efforts, we've received from the same Publisher, Final Departures, an appropriate title for an Albin project. It is billed as "Around the World with Britains most Remarkable Undertaker."

The Press Release that came with the book is in this issue. We have looked through the book briefly. The first three pages of the cryonics chapter sound like a CI ad. In fact they almost are word for word from the ad on the inside front cover of The Immortalist!

There are some morbid things like the fellow in Arizona who had his 29 year old wife embalmed at her death, and placed in a glass coffee table. There is a photo, presumably of the husband sitting on the couch, looking at "Lucy." There's also an interesting description of an automated Chinese crematorium that cremates 300 bodies a day.

As we mentioned previously, in the press release, there is only a two line mention of Alcor. The Cryonics Institute and CI are mentioned 32 times. Maybe the guy just loves us! While we are not going to lose any sleep over this, it seems as though any objective view of the cryonics movement in this country would not be complete without giving Alcor a little more mention, just as the same view would not be complete if CI were relegated to two lines.

In the chapter on cremation, he claims we have eleven states that have no regulations about crematories. If they view death so casually, perhaps one of these states would be a suitable home for Suspended Animation.

NEWS & VIEWS

President's Report

As readers can see, this issue of the Immortalist honors the late (and also, we hope, early) Hugh Hart who left most of his estate to the Cryonics Institute. Although Hugh was cryopreserved over a year ago, his estate was mostly in speculative stock, and its value has varied spectacularly during the period during which it was clearing probate. Hugh was devoted not only to his own cryopreservation, but to the "cryonics movement" and the potential opportunity of a greatly extended lifespan for all who seek it through cryonics. We honor Hugh for his idealism (our idealism) as he has honored us.

We have received most of the CI Member information update sheets that we mailed out to all CI Members. Unfortunately, too many of our Members have not chosen to join our Cryonics_Institute email list. This list provides a great opportunity for rapid feedback between CI Members and CI Management. Please send an email message to CIHQ@... and ask for an invitation to join the list if you are a CI Member and are not yet on the list. CI management mostly operates by email supplemented by phone calls and the occasional conference call. On February 22nd ten CI Directors and Advisors met in person at the CI facility to discuss and decideupon investment strategies. All strategies were conservative, but have good prospects for high yield. I hope to have such midyear (approximately six months from the Annual General Meetings in September) annually in the future and with a more general focus than just investment issues.

I am pleased to announce that The Immortalist Society (IS) is now able to accept credit card payment Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Payments to IS are mostly for subscriptions to THE IMMORTALIST or for research donations. If you would like to make a donation to cryonics research or have a regular deduction from your credit card for such donations please phone (586) 7915961 and give your credit card number. I am hopeful that CI will be able to offer CI Members the option of using Dr. Pichugin's vitrification solution rather than glycerol for cryoprotectant (antifreeze) perfusion within the next several months. Very favorable results have been seen in rats and in sheep heads. I hope to provide more details in the next issue of THE IMMORTALIST.

In this issue of THE IMMORTALIST a contract is announced between the American Cryonics Society (ACS) and Suspended Animation, Inc (SAI) which provides SAI standby services for ACS Members who want it. Vitrification service from SAI is expected in the near future. CI Members who want standby services from SAI can arrange for those services in addition to (and outside of) their arrangements with CI for cryopreservation.

I have asked that a special page be added to every issue of THE IMMORTALIST to emphasize CI policies of importance. Notably, I am especially concerned about the number of CI Members who fund at the minimums ($28,000 Option One, $35,000 Option Two). The minimums do not cover Funeral Director or shipping services, which can amount to several thousand dollars depending upon how far from Detroit the Member lives. Moreover, minimum funding provides no safety against future eventualities, uncertainties and opportunities.

The February 17, 2004 issue of USA TODAY contains a statement from Michigan Bureau of Commercial Services Director Andrew Metcalf verifying that the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED story about the cryopreservation of baseball star Ted Williams by Alcor was the impetus behind the Cease & Desist Order imposed on the Cryonics Institute which led to our licensure and regulation as a cemetery.

With the lifting of the Cease & Desist Order, cemetery licensure has not compromised CI service to Members and may well provide a sense of security for some.

FLORIDA RESEARCH LAB MOVING ALONG

Governor Jeb Bush, educators and politicians recently broke ground on a temporary facility to house the Scripps Research Institute in South Florida. As we mentioned in the last Immortalist, and reported recently in FLORIDA TODAY, Bush hopes the center will ignite biomedical development in Palm Beach County, and grow to duplicate the huge facility in San Diego, California.

A $12 million, 40,000 square foot lab is being constructed on Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus. The building will be used until it's permanent home is built in 2006 on the Institute's 1900 acres. The Institute has hired Charles Weissmann, an internationally known Swiss scientist, and mad cow disease expert to lead it's Florida biotechnology center. The first research teams are expected to arrive this summer.

ARIZONA MOVES TO REGULATE CRYONICS

On March 8th 2004, the Rules committee of the Arizona House of Representatives approved a bill that would regulate the cryonics industry (effectively Alcor) in Arizona. In a message sent to all Alcor members, Joe Waynick, Alcor's CEO/President, explained that the bill is still a work in progress. He also emphasized that when members contact legislators to express their views, they must treat the lawmakers with respect, something that a few members failed to do.

"If you don't feel you can calmly and respectfully state your case, then you should not contact the members of the legislature at all. Alcor once again owes Representative Stump, the bill's sponsor, an apology for the unwarranted actions of a few."

LONG TERM REFRIGERATED STORAGE

Those who are intereested in longterm storage of memorabilia possibly to assist reconstruction of identity in the far future in a secure location might be interested in doing so in a limestone mine under a mountain near Kansas City. I understand the charge is $6 per banker box and that storage for 100 years or more can be arranged at refrigeration temperatures.

Ben Best

Its web site is: http://www.uvsinc.com/index.html

CRYONICS IN THE NEW YORKER?

Yes, it's true! In the January 19th issue, one of the premier magazines in the country carried a fivepage article written by Alec WilkinsonTHE CRYONIC CASTLE. While the piece focuses mainly on Stephen Valentine and the TIMESHIP PROJECT, Bill Faloon and Saul Kent's proposed cryonic storage facility, what's striking is that nowhere is there any mention of "weird or crackpot science" or brains turned into hamburger. Wilkinson describes the proposed building B"and nearly fifty thousand people who have been frozen in the hope that they can be brought back to life in the future."

Just another example that cryonics is slowly creeping into the public consciousness.

Our thanks to Curtis Henderson for giving us a "heads up" on this one.

ACS & SAI SIGN LANDMARK CONTRACT

ACS and SA recently signed a contract that enables ACS members to gain access to the Standby Based Transport and cryosuspension services of SA, using a master ACS contract. SA is a cryosuspension research and services company located in Boca Raton. Florida. The contract gives ACS members the option of having SA perform standby, transport, and suspension services on a subscription basis. The contract also makes provisions for last minute signup with SA. ACS members who do not elect to designate SA to perform these services in advance may still benefit from SA services through an emergency subscription provision initiated through ACS. However, in cases where the member has not opted for SA service prior to a critical situation, SA charges a last minute signup fee and may give normal subscribers first priority.

SA is setting up a fully equipped research and suspension laboratory in South Florida. They provide a "traveling team" with mobile equipment that can be flown to a location anywhere in the US (and in some cases other countries). SA does not use a volunteer system but employs its research personnel to provide both transport and suspension activities. ACS also has mobile equipment, but we prefer to use our equipment and personnel in a backup capacity and intend on calling on SA to provide our primary suspension services. SA will probably charge a yearly fee of about $150 for its ACS subscribing members; this is in addition to the $300 per year ACS dues. This combined dues and fee schedule compares favorably with other fullservice plans. SA already has a 24hour emergency number that ACS members can contact and will establish a regular program of member contract and tracking to ensure they are prepared to quickly react to patient needs. Already one ACS patient is in their monitoring program. Research efforts at SA are focused on preventing, minimizing, and mitigating presuspension ischemic damage and on using vitrification techniques to obtain the best possible cryosuspension on the whole body level. Their longterm goal is reversible whole body vitrification. They are employing the vitrification techniques and biomedical discoveries of the Southern California biotech company 21st Century Medicine (and its associated research companies). One of the founders of SA, Bill Faloon, is also a founder of 21st Century Medicine. Dave Shumaker, President of SA, is an ACS member of long standing

Suspended Animation, Inc. is a wellfinanced company with access to cuttingedge research through its unique relationship with its affiliates. We are pleased to be the first cryonics organization to have a service contract with SA.

Jim Yount

ROBERT ETTINGER'S NEWEST BOOK

Before the end of 2004, I hope to contract for my new book, YOUNIVERSE, with a publisher or agent. All previous philosophers have been failures at best, and sad clowns at worst. Many of them were smarter than I, and some did useful work, but none came within shouting distance of the primary goal of philosophy, which is to provide guidelines for real life, especially life in the face of death.

Times have changed since I sold my previous books, and in order to interest a major publisher, it will help if I can guarantee a significant number of sales, so I make the following request and offer:

Readers are asked to remit $30 to the Cryonics Institute by Visa, Master Card, American Express, PayPal, or check. This will reserve a copy, to be autographed and delivered to you upon publication. Mailing address for the Cryonics Institute is 24355 Sorrentino Court, Clinton Township, MI. 48035.

If I contract with a publisher this year, the Cryonics Institute will turn over the prepayments to the publisher, and author's royalties for all prepaid copies will be donated to the Cryonics Institute.

If I don't find a suitable conventional publisher before the end of the year, we will go to an electronic print on demand system, and publish that way. In any case, your copy is guaranteed.

It will also help if I can get reviews from appropriate people with professional qualifications or name recognition. If any such request it, I will email a copy of the current draft, on his promise to provide a review suitable for publication, reasonably promptly, with permission to use it as I see fit.

There is, of course, no requirement that the review be favorable.

Finally, if you have any interest in this project, you could forward this or mention it to such people or locations as you think useful.

R.C.W. Ettinger

Ettinger@...

THE FIRST 50 PATIENTS

We are currently "processing" our 51st cryonics patient at CI. I am a statistics buff, so recently I created a database of patient information from our patient files and did some "datamining" to see what I could learn.

One observation that standsout is the fact that exactly half (25) of the patients are female and half are male. This contrasts sharply to the fact that only just over one fifth of CI members are female. When a child chooses to cryopreserve a parent, it is usually the mother. When a spouse chooses to cryopreserve a partner, it is usually a husband cryopreserving a wife. The age distribution (at timeof deanimation) of the patients is:

The 28 year old was the victim of an accident of suicidal recklessness and was cryopreserved by a parent. There were two murder victims. The rest died of the usual nonviolent causes heart disease, cancer, infection, etc. The major occupations were:

And there was one each of lawyer, dentist, flight attendant, bill collector, garage mechanic, jewellery saleswoman, general laborer, park keeper, etc. Six of the patients are being stored for the American Cryonics Society. Country of deanimation can be classified as:

The number of Australians is striking insofar as they constitute 4% of our members, in contrast to the fact that no patient is from England where we have 10% of our (overseas) members.

FROZEN DEAD GUY DAYS FESTIVAL

This will be the 3rd year for the festival, held in Nederland, Colorado on March 13 and 14. Attendance seems to be growing every year, last year 5000 people attended, twice the attendance the first year. The centrepiece of the celebration is Bredo Morstel who died in 1989, and has been stored in a TUFF shed in Nederland since 1993 under a mountain of dry ice.

The driving force behind the festival is Morstel's grandson Trygve Bauge, a Norwegian who was deported from this country a few years ago after living here for fourteen years without a passport, visa, or green card.

Bauge has been urging CI and Alcor to set up booths at the site. Neither organization appears interested, perhaps because Bauge himself refers to the event as the "Mardi Gras of Cryonics," Or perhaps it's the "Frozen T shirt contest," the "Granpa look alike contest, or the coffin races?"

SUSPENDED ANIMATION REJECTED

Suspended Animation's (SA) building permit is rejected by Boca Raton City Council.

January 13, 2004, brought what seems like another blow to the Cryonics industry. But receiving a negative response from the Boca Raton City Council on their request for a building permit does very little in hampering the Cryonics movement or the company itself. The company continues to be ready with its Remote Transport Service to support members of cryonics organizations anywhere in the world. "We are a global support organization and this is only a small hiccup in the long road to making cryonic suspension services available worldwide." says the company's CEO, David Shumaker. "We've already finished what we needed to do in this facility through the completion of our remote kits. We are currently supporting cryonics members outside of Boca Raton and will continue to do so." He added.

TED WILLIAMS' SON DIES

In the last issue of The Immortalist, Jan.Feb 2004, we reported that the son of baseball great Ted Williams was diagnosed with leukemia, and that the prognosis was "not good." On March 6th FLORIDA TODAY reported that Williams' son died at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. In December he underwent a bone marrow transplant, using a donation from his younger sister, Claudia.

Williams, 35 was at the center of a controversy last year because of his decision to have his father frozen. Ted Williams is believed to have undergone a neuro suspension at Alcor's Arizona facility. Funeral services for John Henry were reported to be "private." At the same time FLORIDA TODAY claimed to have a copy of John Henry's Will, in which he states his desire to have his remains sent to Alcor. This will tend to mute some of the criticism of John Henry from those who claimed he was capitalizing on his father's death for financial gain.

PHILADELPHIA SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION

I had previously mentioned that I would be at the Philadelphia Science Fiction I had no inclination to say more, but a couple of people have asked about the outcome, so I will give a "report". It was not a surprise to me, but my cryonics presentation was sparsely attended 8 people out of just under the thousand or so attending PhilCon. Many of those were already very familiar with cryonics. Perhaps because my expectations were low I was not too disappointed. I do think most people learned a few things.

The Nanotechnology panel was dominated by a fellow who has been a Foresight Institute employee for ten years. In my introduction I mentioned being President of the Cryonics Institute and described relevant sections of ENGINES OF CREATION, while waving a copy. I was able to make a few comments about the Drexler/Smalley debate, but was otherwise not unhappy to be eclipsed by a person who clearly had much more knowledge.

His interests were extremely technical and unrelated to cryonics or nanomedicine.

But being a Foresight employee he was clearly aware that the powersthatbe take an interest in these subjects and he made a single comment which was the verbal equivalent of a polite bow.

I was able to have myself added to the "Suspended Animation, Then What?" panel. Just before the session Lee Gilliland (wife of Alexis Gilliland) "drafted" Keith Lynch to join the panel. One of the other panelists was an Alcor member which left the six panelists apparently evenly divided between pro and anticryonics sentiment although the Alcor member had his share of fears about the future.

The audience (about 20 people) was also divided. It was actually quite a confrontational & lively session pleasantly challenging. One of the other panelists was a professional politician from Washington, DC who seemed to think that cryonics would only populate the future with rich people (ie, social undesirables). He was not moved by my arguments about life insurance, but he was favorably impressed when I mentioned that James Swayze is a paraplegic living on welfare who has been funded through donations. At least one cryonicist in the future will be up to his standards.

Benjamin Franklin is a cultural icon in Philadelphia so I didn't miss the opportunity to describe Franklin's desire to see the future. Frankly, I think that within a month after being reanimated Old Ben would be on the internet writing critical essays about MicroSoft products.

The moderator of the panel, Ian Randal Stock, is the Publisher/Editor of ARTEMIS MAGAZINE.  He presented a steady stream of dystopian visions of the future which I countered with a steady stream of positive visions. At the end of the panel he expressed his displeasure at the lack of imagination about the future. At that point I figuredout what he was up to positive visions of the future amount to a "happily ever after" story which would be fictionally uninteresting. He assured me that he is not anticryonics and in support of this claim he showed me a favorable article Solid State Biology in the Winter 2003 issue of ARTEMIS.

Keith Lynch mentioned that Larry Niven had been in the audience (I hadn't noticed). Over 25 years ago Niven wrote a novel A WORLD OUT OF TIME about cryonicists reanimated in a dystopian future who ultimately triumphed.

This is actually the theme of the only novel I have ever been motivated to write, although my novel would be more of a cryonics propaganda piece. The cryonicists would be treated with contempt by their mortalist masters and there would be lots dialogue involving deathist & antideathist ideology. Naturally, the cryonicists would ultimately triumph through their love of life, passion for survival, longevity and technical ingenuity while winning a few notable hearts, minds & genitals in some torrid romantic & sexual passion. I have abandoned hope of ever writing such a novel I have too many projects with much greater priority but others are welcome to take the idea and run with it

Ben Best

SUSPENDED ANIMATION ANNOUNCEMENT

Through an exclusive agreement with Michigan Instruments, Inc. of Grand Rapids, Michigan Suspended Animation is proud to accept delivery of their first updated Dual Action Thumper. "This Thumper is far superior to the others on the market because it is easier to use, lighter, more transportable, and much more quiet and efficient.

"We've been collaborating with Michigan Instruments for months on this new design and we're happy to be not only the first company to have one but the sole distributor to the cryonics industry for this device. Our engineers have been in discussions and many meetings with Michigan Instruments and we've created the best there is." say's David Shumaker the companies CEO.

This device is designed to be a stand alone unit with a back plate but also adapts itself to attach directly to the Portable Ice Bath used on Transport Services. This means that our Standby Team has far less heavy and cumbersome equipment to manage at a patient's bedside enabling us to provide the best service in the industry.

The unit is approximately 40% lighter than previous models, and almost 80% less noise is created when in use. David Hayes, the companies COO states that "On a Standby there is always the concern of how much equipment we have and how noisy we are going to be once we begin working on the patient.

With this device we will be much less obtrusive to the hospital when we begin our Transport Services." He adds, "It is also one of the few in use that provide not only compression of the chest for blood flow and respiration but also decompression. Something that is vitally important to the proper oxygenation of a patient. It is also one of the few devices on the market with built in intubation respiration at the American Heart Association recommended 5 compression strokes to 1 respiration cycle. The compression piston is adjustable to fit body sizes from children to extra large adults."

This device is marketed through Suspended Animation, Inc. to the Cryonics industry and can be purchased directly from their website. The price is $7000, but Shumaker said if they can give Michigan Instruments an order for ten, they can sell them for $5000.

CSC CHRISTMAS PARTY

I wanted to let everyone know that the Cryonics Society of Canada Christmas party, held at my apartment, was a huge success.

It started at about 4 pm, and the last guests left at 1 am. We had about 23 people come, many of which were newcomers friends of CSC members, and one man who emigrated from India 2 weeks ago, who is a transhumanist, with a serious interest in cryonics. It was standing room only at times through the evening. I think we gained 5 new members to the CSC group last night, which is terrific.

My labours at preparing food weren't in vain, as there was very little left by the end of the evening which was great as I dreaded the prospect of having "leftovers" to contend with that would have likely lasted until the end of January. It took me about 16 hours to prepare everything, but I enjoyed getting the opportunity to throw such a party for this bunch of people. I haven't cooked for anyone in a long time., as I have been on my own since August. (referring to Andrew's departure)

Ben Best brought a treasure trove of books, that were put on display in an adjoining room. I was able to get a hold of about 7 or 8 of them, before the selections got too lean. I'll let Ben report on how many books he was able to sell, if he feels inclined to do so. The remainder will remain stored for him, in my apartment, with the rest of the CSC equipment which has found its new home here too.

Let me try and remember everyone that attended:

Ben Best, Brent Erskine and Irene

Martha Olijnik, Stan Witkowski

Gary Tripp, Rudy Matic, Bob Skakie

Doug Quinn, Adrianna Baranyai

Bruce Waugh, Tony Taylor, Ahsan Rashid, Keith Henson and Arel Allan Randall, and his parents who were visiting from Nova Scotia Dennis the transhumanist from India...sorry I don't know his last name My parents, Jack and Maria Gaspar

and me

If I have forgotten anyone...sorry about that.

I had another agenda too, in that I wanted my parents to meet all of the CSC people, and vice versa. When I started expressing an active interest to them about cryonics, they weren't exactly supportive of the idea. Well, I have been working on them for the past couple of years. I can be very stubborn when I want to be...and I think they are at the point now where they'd like to be suspended too. It was great fun to see my folks partying with the Canadian cryonicists and they really enjoyed it too.

I also got a chance to show everyone the finished copy of the interview I did, for TV, that will be aired on Global TV, on the 1/2 hr science and tech show "TKO" sometime in the new year. I think it was a very positive portrayal of cryonics on the part of the media, albeit a very brief spot on their show (2 minutes tops). It was also my first experience talking about cryonics on TV one which I learned quite a bit from.

I look forward to our next function, and hopefully all of these people will be able to attend, and more too. I did get regrets from several invitees, due to the time of the year when this was held, so potentially, there could have easily been another 5 people there at least...always working on next time though...

I want to thank everyone who came, for their interest, their energy, and for making the evening such a success. The CSC is an incredible organization of people, and this little group of ours is getting bigger and better all the time. I can definitely see that our group cohesion gets stronger all the time We have within us a huge potential to make cryonics great, which will impact everyone, everywhere, at some point in the (near) future.

Christine Gaspar

Conditions to Licensure as a Cemetery

Below are the Conditions to Licensure as a Cemetery which David Ettinger negotiated with Department of Consumer and Industry Services of the State of Michigan. This is version 7 of the agreement the final version which was accepted by both parties. This is a document of public record of which I believe CI members should be fully informed. It allows us to continue our operations in much the same manner except for the establishment of a separate fund and the requirement that we perfuse at a funeral director's establishment (whereas previously we had often perfused at our facility). So we are able to operate as a very special kind of cemetery with our own special conditions of operation, ie, we are fully operational as a cryonics organization.

Ben Best

CONDITIONS TO LICENSURE

The application for licensure for the Cryonics Institute ( CI ) is conditioned on the following facts, and licensure will

constitute approval of its operation in the following manner. Without waiving its claims and objections regarding the

lack of jurisdiction of the Department of Consumer and Industry Services or the Cemetery Commissioner over CI,

CI is prepared to accept licensure as a cemetery if the conditions are consistent with CI's method of operations

as spelled out below:

1. CI will engage in cryonic suspension and cryonic storage of its patients, as defined in its Cryonic Suspension Agreement, at its facility in Clinton Township, Michigan, except that any perfusion of patients with cryoprotective solutions utilizing current technology and conducted within the State of Michigan will occur at a licensed funeral establishment conducted by a licensed mortician. CI will not specify in advance the specific location within its facility at which any particular patient will be stored. CI will not require down payments in connection with its contracts. None of CI's facilities will be considered an undeveloped cemetery area. CI's services do not involve grave memorials or burial vaults.

2. CI will continue to contract with patients for the entire cryonic suspension process, including perfusion, and will make separate payments to funeral directors for the conduct of perfusion with cryoprotective solutions in Michigan.

3. CI shall require that funeral directors engaged in the perfusion process for its patients shall follow CI's protocol and utilize the chemicals directed by CI.

4. CI shall operate from a facility with the total property substantially less than forty acres.

5. CI shall set aside an Endowment Care Trust Fund containing funds equal to $4,000.00 per patient, for all patients cryonically suspended prior to the date of licensure, according to the terms of the attached Trust Agreement. These funds will be set aside for maintenance, which shall include liquid nitrogen storage of existing CI patients. All patients cryonically suspended postlicensure will have endowed care trust deposits of not less than 15% of the interment proceeds (defined as CI's minimum suspension fee less the amount allocated for initial expenses, including perfusion and initial freezing). The initial deposit to the Endowed Care Trust Fund shall be made not later than January 7, 2004.

6. CI will set aside funds in the amount of $50 per patient in a separate bank account for these patients who have chosen to prepay their suspension fees. Based upon its current operations, CI will not set aside funds in any other separate accounts, such as merchandise trust accounts, and is not currently subject to the Prepaid Funeral Contract Funding Act. Based on its current operations, CI shall not maintain a merchandise trust account, a cemetery development fund, a merchandise escrow account, a construction trust fund, or a construction development trust fund.

7. CI will not permanently seal its cryostats, but will continue to replenish them with liquid nitrogen and open them as appropriate, including to add patients. CI's cryostats will continue to contain multiple patients. CI s patients shall be required to use CI's cryostats. CI will not file a plat or map with regard to its facility, but will file a floor plan identifying the location of its cryostats, and will maintain records identifying the cryostats in which each patient is contained.

CI will not provide information to prospective patients regarding the specific cryostat which shall be utilized for them, and shall routinely contract with members for cryonic suspension without specific provisions for construction of cryostats for those members, since the death of those members could be years or decades in the future. CI shall not utilize grave markers, section markers or survey markers.

8. CI will continue to offer to its members the option of funding their cryonic suspensions by life insurance policies with CI as the beneficiary.

9. CI's facility received zoning approval when it opened, but CI is not zoned as a cemetery and will not be zoned as a cemetery.

10. CI will engage in a cool down of its patients according to its own best judgment of what is appropriate for its patients, and shall not be required to place patients in its cryostats as soon as possible after receipt, or obtain written permission for any delays in doing so.

11. Because of the uncertain, long term nature of cryonic suspension, CI shall not be required to indicate or assure how

it will perform its future obligations, or the cost of those obligations other than the cost of liquid nitrogen storage.

12. CI shall not submit its Cryonic Suspension Agreement to the Commission for approval because that document has been reviewed by the Commission.

13. This application has been reviewed by the Cemetery Commissioner and the Department of Consumer and Industry

Services, and they have concluded that CI's operations and the activities as described herein or as reviewed by them in their investigation of CI do not violate Michigan law and will not be the subject of enforcement action. Upon approval of this application the two Cease and Desist Orders dated August 26, 2003 shall be withdrawn.

CRYONICS FRIENDLY COUNTRIES?

Since CI, Alcor and Suspended Animation have been facing legal problems of one kind or another from governing authorities, there's been some speculation on Cryonet about other countries that might be more cryonics friendly.

From James Hughes, MD

After noting the terrible and, yes stupid, controversy about a cryogenic

physical plant, in either Russia or the US, it occurred to me that there is a

stable, libertarian government entrenched in the Dominican Republic. The area has enjoyed increasing stability lately with a boon in tourism and expats from Europe and the US. It is a "handsoff" government. The country is easily accessible from both Europe and the US and geologically stable. This may be a plausible location to consider.

From David Stodolsky:

"Randy"wrote:

I personally think that exploring how it might be possible to lobby in Russia would be a good idea. I also suspect that some countries like Japan and Korea would be amenable here.

If cryonicists could just get 35 countries to firmly legalize cryonics, this would be a big step forward.

I am thinking that if any country would be able to legalize cryonics,it would be one of the northwestern European countries, such as Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, etc. they seem to have a more pragmatic, nonreligious approach to life. For example, polls show that far fewer citizens of those countries have a belief in a god or afterlife (I think the figure there is maybe 3040% or so, as opposed to 6070% here in the USA).

These figures can be misleading. For example, even though belief in god is low in Denmark, as is church attendance, about 90% belong to the State Church. From a social psychological standpoint, this indicates such a deep integration of religion into daily life, that the weekly reaffirmation is hardly needed.

When cloning first became controversial, Denmark passed a law banning it immediately. Somewhat latter, it became apparent that cloning of cells, etc. was obviously a good idea, and the law was modified. Members of the official Ethics Advisory Board make statements about the need to improve the Quality of Life as opposed to increasing the Quantity of Life.

When I mentioned cryonic suspension to my MD, who is was willing to work with me on developing a drug regime for life extension, he said it wouldn't be long before a law was passed against cryonics, if it was attempted in Denmark. On the other hand, fetal cord blood is now routinely placed in low temperature suspension upon birth, in order to be available for cancer treatment.

The advantage of these countries over Russia, Japan, Korean, etc. would be primarily due to very low levels of corruption and a functioning legal system. However, the above argument could also be made.

Also, Switzerland and Netherlands have, I believe, practically decriminalized euthanasia.

The Northwestern European countries are all predominantly Christian, but there are significant differences in their responses to endoflife ethical questions. The European Values Study database could be analyzed in order to identify the best bet. However it might require a supplementary survey specifically on the question of cryonics to get specific results.

David S. Stodolsky

From: David Pizer

Someone asked "Which country is cryonics legal in?" Its legal in the United States!

There have been court cases in California where the judge ruled that death certificates have to be issued to cryonics patients and that cryonics could continue even though there is no "cryonics" box to check on death certificates. Thank you Judge Munoz.

In Scottsdale Arizona, the Mayor of the town welcomed Alcor's president when we moved here, invited President Bridge up to his office and had a nice conversation with him. The local hospitals and hospices treat Alcor in a professional manner. Things in that respect are not so bad for cryonics right now as the media might want people to think.

The real problem lies in the future when bioethic movement leaders try to outlaw cryonics. In the meantime they are trying to outlaw things that reanimation of cryonics patients will count on, like cloning human body parts.

We need to plan for the future. Moving from USA is not an option at present unless someone was willing to risk several million dollars for start up and continue to risk a slow growth for a decade.

Most cryonics members are citizens of the USA and don't want to be stored in a foreign country. That may change someday. It would be good for the movement for several groups to start up in different countries, but there is a lot of financial risk to that. Remember, those of us who helped start or develop the cryonics companies did so not as a good financial investment but because no one else wanted to do it.

I believe that there are ways to make a profit in the cryonics business but no one is doing it right now.

David

Charles Platt gives us some perspective

I see that Cryonet is going through one of its half baked phases. These always last longer than would seem possible.

Regarding the relocation of cryonics in some other nation (a halfbaked idea that has been raised periodically for more than a decademaybe more than two decadeswith no actual results whatsoever), I will take this fantasy a little more seriously if I see a minimum of 5 (five) cryonics activists actually making serious plans, supported by serious money, to move to any other nation and commence operations there. I will take it more seriously still if I see even 1 (one) possibly terminal patient express serious intentions to move to any nation that is considered more friendly to cryonics than the USA.

Bear in mind that historically, it has been difficult to persuade terminal patients to relocate near a cryonics facility *within* the USA (not impossible, not unprecedented, but difficult). People do not like to die thousands of miles from their home, family, and friends, and who can blame them?

Also one might consider that in Britain, where a substantial number of cryonics activists are located, there is still no fully equipped facility (no storage, for instance) and the capability that does exist was put together largely through the generosity and engineering skills of just one man (Alan Sinclair). I'm not belittling the help that Alan received, which was substantial. I'm just saying that without his capital and initiative, I doubt it would have happened.

Starting a cryonics organization is as tough as, or tougher than, starting any small business which requires substantial capital, skills, and labor. In fact, cryonics is unusually laborintensive, requires an exceptional range of skills, and of course never makes a profit. Relocating such an operation in a foreign country just multiplies the difficulties.

All of this, needless to say, should be INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS,and the pieinthesky theorizing about establishing cryonics in other countries is at best a doubtful use of one's time and at worst is actually deleterious to the provision of cryonics services in this country, since it distracts us from the hard problems and intense needs that we have here. I don't think it's coincidental that the wishful thinking has coincided with a time of exceptional challenges among US cryonics organizations.

How lamentable that instead of addressing these challenges there is an impractical yearning to get away from it all by going someplace else.

This reminds me of space enthusiasts who imagined that their social dysfunctionality could somehow be accommodated in L5 colonies.

Hugh Hart's Generosity and Cryopreservation

by Ben Best

Hugh Hart, who had been a Member of the Cryonics Institute for over a decade, died in December of 2002 and was cryopreserved by the Cryonics Institute. Hugh had never been married and had no children. Hugh was a Phi Beta Kappa who had taught mathematics for 16 years. Although He died at the age of 75, he was still working fulltime as a Counselor for a Pension Fund.

Cryonics was an important part of Hugh's life. In 1994 he wrote a letter to

Robert & Mae Ettinger in which he said, "My enthusiasm grows every time I'm able to help the movement." In support of the cryonics movement, Hugh left his entire estate well over $200,000 to the Cryonics Institute, with the exception of $10,000 given to his friend who served as the Executor of his estate. Hugh was a longtime subscriber to my magazine CANADIAN CRYONICS NEWS. In 2001 he gave $500 to the Immortalist Society to pay for gift subscriptions to THE IMMORTALIST and gave an additional $1,000 in 2002.

At the September, 2001 Annual Meeting of the Cryonics Institute Hugh made an impassioned speech about the danger of procrastinating cryonics arrangements. A friend of Hugh's who had long expressed interest in cryonics, but had never gotten around to signingup, had recently died.

Yet Hugh himself never completed his Cryonics Suspension Agreement with CI. Hugh could have had serious problems fulfilling his desire to be cryopreserved were it not for the fact that his Will was very explicit, his nearest nextofkin was a 3rd or 4th cousin and the Executor of his estate was a trusted friend who understood Hugh's wishes.

These are exceptional circumstances the dangers of probate can be great and in general a member should make every attempt to complete the Cryonics Suspension agreement.

Hugh's Will stated, "I hope that the Institute, of which I am a member, will be able to take possession of my body and keep it in cryonic suspension, or any other state deemed superior, for as long as necessary to carry out our aims. Nonetheless, the gift is unconditional." He specifically disinherited anyone not mentioned in his will. Fortunately, he had also completed a Uniform Donor Form which the medical examiner accepted as sufficient documentation to release Hugh to CI. (Again, the Cryonics Suspension Agreement is the primary document of legal authority for CI and reliance upon a Uniform Donor Form and Will alone would be risky.) Unfortunately, because Hugh lived alone, his death was not immediately discovered. As a result, the circumstances of his freezing were far from what a cryonicist would want.

I am personally touched not only by Hugh's devotion to cryonics a devotion I share but by the conditions under which he died. I have long been worried about elderly cryonicists who live alone and long been frustrated by my inability to come up with anything better than frequent checkup calls.

After the September, 2002 annual CI meeting I remember expressing my concern to Robert Ettinger about the danger of him living alone and the possibility that he could die in his sleep. Hugh Hart was the only other person in the room with us and I think we were all aware that Hugh was also a concern.

Projects, projects, projects there is so much to be done in cryonics and such limited resources. But I intend to do a thorough study of equipment available for monitoring and/or alerting others of serious medical and other problems. I will report on MY findings in the next issue of THE IMMORTALIST.

Joe Kowalsky shared a few thoughts about Hugh:

I think it important to mention that he spent a long time talking at the annual meetings about some people who had died that most of us did not know, because he felt it was important that we DID get to know them, and that at that point they could not speak for themselves.

Most of us just wanted to get back down to business, but I think that he was trying to keep things in perspective: we must take the time to care about people or we have lost sight of an important goal.

There are other things which I am sure will come out the importance of CI to him and his attempts to develop methods to get others involved (for CI's benefit and for their own benefit) but it is his kind consideration that struck me the most.

Robert Ettinger had these rememberences:

Although I met Hugh Hart several times in recent years, I have only a dim recollection of our first meeting, maybe 20 years ago. At that time, Hugh was a friend of Pat Dewey, sometime coeditor of The Immortalist.

We had some interesting conversations about cryonics and about trading commodities. Hugh was intelligent, and he combined qualities of prudence and risktaking, which seems typical of a considerable number of cryonicists. Also, although comfortable in company, he was a bit of a loner, which is not unusual either. Now I have recently spoken with Arthur "Buzz" Alpert, Hugh's longtime friend, and asked what he remembered about Hugh that might interest readers.

His main thrust was that everyone who knew Hugh held him in high regard as a decent, caring human being. (I see that word "caring" too much, but that's what Buzz said repeatedly, and it conveys something.) He was just a good guy.

For recreation he raised roses and collected things. Although a bachelor, he was an accomplished dancer and won many prizes as a professional dancer.

Who would have thought that!

Well, he "died" a few centuries too soon at least, but we have not given up on him.

And From York Porter:

I first met Hugh Hart, like I've met most other of the cryonicists I know, through the annual Cryonics Institute and Immortalist Society meetings in Detroit. Though it may be hard for some of my friends to believe, I tend to be somewhat shy when I first meet people and, regrettably, I have a terrible time remembering names so the initial meeting between Hugh and I was very brief and perfunctory.

Down through the years, however, as I listened to Hugh's impassioned statements on behalf of cryonics, his lament over a friend who had been involved in cryonics but who had not been suspended, and Hugh's personal plans to help the movement, both personally and financially, I became more impressed with this conservatively dressed and appearing man.

Then came an annual meeting when I accidentally insulted him and there was a period of a year or so when relations between us were not as warm. The cause to which we are all dedicated, however, intervened and after an apology by me and a gradual and gracious acceptance by him, we were "back on track" and I looked forward to seeing him at the annual meetings as well as exchanging some messages with him through both email and, since, as Hugh said, he was not much of a typist, through the regular and traditional channel of the U.S. Postal Service.

The last time I saw him was at an annual meeting and at a dinner which Robert Ettinger hosted for several of us at a Detroit area restaurant. Hugh, by happenstance, sat immediately to my right, and, before long, we were engaged in a wonderful conversation with both each other and the other cryonicists at our table.

On that night, it was revealed to us that Hugh, after his retirement which was planned for the following year, was going to work on a very personal basis for cryonics by literally going door to door to, as he put it, "save as many lives as possible". I was very, very pleased for, like Hugh, I think that the selling of cryonics is very much a "one on one" matter and I was deeply interested in his plans and approach and was looking forward to the results of this method of trying to increase memberships and suspensions.

Alas, it was not to be, but I am left with the memory of a man who was intelligent, dedicated, and innovative in how he wanted to help further the wonderful concept that Robert Ettinger thought up. Hugh, as many readers know, also, "put his money where his mouth was" by both making contributions to further the readership of The Immortalist and by leaving his entire estate to the Cryonics Institute which has resulted in a bequest of around two hundred thousand dollars. Hugh's comments, his bequest and donations, as well as his impassioned statements at annual meetings should serve to rededicate all of us to the work that lies before us.

To Hugh, all I can say at this point is a heartfelt and deep "Thank you!" and "Safe passage, my friend!" realizing that he and his future are in the excellent hands of the Cryonics Institute.

QUICKIES

People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first

David Comins

In the last issue we reported how the funeral industry is adapting to the number of obese cases they're getting. Now resorts are getting on the bandwagon. "Size friendly" is the description of one Mexico resort that features extra large chairs, wide doorways and wide pool steps. Happy guests can take home the resorts motto, "Live Large, Live Free" emblazoned on T shirts available in sizes up to 5XL.

USA WEEKEND

Ablocor heart implanted in 12th patient, the operation took place at St Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas, which has now implanted five of the devicess. The manufacturer hopes to get FDA approval later this year to sell them to the public FLORIDA TODAY

Worst pills Best pills Ever want to know what are the best and worst pills to take? Now you can get information on "DO NOT USE" drugs, and adverse drug reactions, the latest drug news, and warnings on medications: www.worstpills.org

Public Citizen

We're Living Too Long! Once Wall Street darlings as they bought up scores of independent funeral homes, the funeral home conglomerates acquisition sprees have turned into debt ridden disasters. One analyst said, "they bought too many properties at unrealistic prices. Consumers are no longer willing to be led around by their pocketbooks and be charged outrageous prices. They're also looking more and more at cremation and lower cost services. And to top it off, we're living longer! FLORIDA TODAY

When is a nut not a nut? When it's a peanut, a coconut, a lychee or a water chestnut. The peanut is a legume. The coconut and lychee are fruit, and the water chestnut is a tuber. FLORIDA TODAY

LIFE EXTENSION NEWS

Were You Deferred for "Low Iron"?

About 32% of blood donor rejections are due to a low hematocrit, better known as low iron. Hematocrit is the measure of red cells in the plasma. The red cells are the component in blood that carries oxygen to the various organs of the body. The normal hematocrit range for adults is 35 to 55.

Another way to measure the oxygen in blood is to measure the hemoglobin. (expressed as grams of hemoglobin per deciliter of blood) The normal hemoglobin range for adults is 12 to 18.5 grams. This may be the way your doctor would measure the oxygen carrying ability of your blood. This accounts for the different numbers you might hear from our staff and your doctor's office.

When a person donates a unit of blood (little less than a pint) it can lower the hematocrit by two to four points. For this reason, blood centers set limits on the amount of hematocrit a donor must have in order to make certain the donor is kept safe. These limits are determined by the FDA. The hematocrit limits for donating blood are 38 to 55. The upper limit can alert blood center staff to a possible problem in the donors blood.

If a donor tests enough under or over the limits, the staff will instruct the donor to seek medical attention. If a blood center staff member says a person's hematocrit is too low to donate today, this simply means that at this particular time, the donor does not have enough red cells to give up a unit of blood and still feel well.

This condition is often referred to as anemia. This is a TEMPORARY deferral for a temporary condition, and the person could be able to donate in just a day or two. Hematocrit levels can fluctuate on a daily or weekly basis. According to Dr. Allen Nissenson, Professor of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, Inadequate nutrition is the most common cause of anemia.

Diet is an important factor in building hematocrit levels (iron). Red meat, poultry, fish, beans, green leafy vegetables, egg yolks, raisins, and cream of wheat are all high in iron. In addition, foods rich in vitamins B & C help the body to absorb iron. In some cases, just a few days of eating high iron foods can make a huge difference in hematocrit levels, as well as the way a person feels.

It is important to remember that when a donor is deferred, it is for the safety of the donor or the safety of the patient. Central Illinois Community Blood Center (Blood donations are an excellent way to monitor ones cholesterol levels, blood pressure and iron levels)

Acetaminophen Misuse can be Fatal

The government has issued a warning about the consequences of not following directions in taking over the counter medications like Tylenol, or any of over 600 other medications that contain acetaminophen. Misuse can lead to severe side effects, or even death.

More thn 56,000 emergency room visits a year are because of acetaminophen overdoses., and about 100 people a year die after unintentional overdose of the drug, according to Food and Drug Administration estimates.

Sometimes consumers swallow extra pills in hope of faster pain relief. Others unknowingly injest too much by taking more than one acetaminophen containing remedy.

The FDA is also targeting other painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen or ketoprofen called NSAIDS or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. These side effects include stomach bleeding and liver problems.

"We want people to take these medications seriously, and understand the consequences if they don't follow directions.

FLORIDA TODAY

Study Finds Huge Variation In Vitamin E Absorption

Doug Skrecky recently posted this on Cryonet:

A new study has found that cereal fortified with vitamin E has a very high rate of absorption into the bloodstream, whereas pills taken separately with the same food have inconsistent effects, and taking the supplements alone is largely useless. The research was just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by scientists from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

The study points the way to more effective methods of taking this essential vitamin if people wish to supplement their diet. As an antioxidant, vitamin E is one of the most commonly taken vitamin supplements in the world and included in virtually every multivitamin pill.

The research may explain, Traber said, why many past research studies done with vitamin E have varied findings. It's quite possible, she said, that the manner in which people took vitamin E supplements and the variation in its bioavailability from person to person have yielded widely inconsistent results about the value of this nutrient in heart disease and other degenerative diseases.

It may also be time to consider routine fortification of more foods with this vitamin, Traber said.

"For good reasons, Americans are increasingly moving towards lowfat diets," Traber said. "But average lowfat diets provide only about 58 international units a day of vitamin E. The recommended dietary allowance of vitamin E is 30 I.U. and it's possible that higher amounts than that are useful for optimal health. So we have to find ways to make sure everyone is getting enough of this nutrient."

A glitch, the researchers say, is that vitamin E is an oil, and people are now being told to use oils very sparingly. It can be found in nuts, oily fish, some vegetables and oils such as safflower, olive and canola oil. The most common way that people get vitamin E is through rich desserts and cooking oils.

"If people are getting all the vitamin E they need through a healthy, balanced diet, that's great," Traber said. "But we really don't want to be telling people to eat more fat, and that's generally where vitamin E is found. That's why it's appealing to find an effective way of obtaining this nutrient, such as vitamin E fortification of what is essentially a lowfat food."

This controlled study was done by LPI scientists, funded by and in collaboration with the Bell Nutrition Institute of General Mills.

In it, scientists tested the results of four different types of breakfasts: a pill of 400 I.U. of vitamin E with skim milk; a serving of a wheat breakfast cereal fortified with 30 I.U. of vitamin E; a serving

of wheat breakfast cereal fortified with 400 I.U. of vitamin E; and a serving of wheat breakfast cereal with a pill of 400 I.U. vitamin E taken separately.

The pill of 400 I.U. vitamin E taken with just a glass of milk, in theory should have provided more than 13 times the RDA of this nutrient. But, in fact, it raised the level of new vitamin E in the blood by only 3 percent. By comparison, the cereal fortified with 30 I.U. vitamin E raised the blood plasma level of new vitamin E five times higher than that, and the cereal fortified with 400 I.U. raised the new blood plasma level 30 times higher.

The effect of a pill of 400 I.U. taken with a serving of plain wheat cereal was inconsistent; some participants had a significant increase in blood plasma levels of vitamin E, others almost none.

"This study clearly showed that applying vitamin E onto a grain cereal provided a huge and consistent increase in its bioavailability," said Scott Leonard, an LPI research assistant who conducted the study. "Even 30 I.U., the RDA for this vitamin, produced a large increase in new blood plasma levels."

According to Traber and Leonard, this indicates that people who are taking vitamin E supplements only with liquids on an empty stomach are accomplishing nothing and getting few if any benefits from the supplements. The vitamin clearly is absorbed better if it is part of, or closely associated with the digestion of a food that has some fat in it.

Vitamin E has been explored in recent years for its potential value in prevention of heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other health concerns. The results of this study may explain in part why the other research has often yielded inconsistent results, Traber said.

"It's now clear that vitamin E must be taken in a certain way to be effective, either in a food containing vitamin E or in a supplement properly associated with a food," Traber said. "So anyone studying vitamin E for a clinical response must now be sure they are using it in a regimen that works."

It may also be time to consider the expansion of vitamin E as a routine food additive, she said.

"In our pursuit of lowfat diets, we increasingly are taking the fat out of foods but not putting the vitamin E back," Traber said.

According to Traber and Leonard, this indicates that people who are taking vitamin E supplements only with liquids on an empty stomach are accomplishing nothing and getting few if any benefits from the supplements.

Earth's Easiest Exercise

Walking can add years to your life, and life to your years. And it couldn't be easier.

The Conditioner Walking conditions your heart and lungs, and raises your body's ability to use oxygen more efficiently. In one study, women who walked briskly (34 miles per hour) at least three hours a week, cut their risk of heart attack and stroke by more than half.

The Protector Walking helps beat other health problems, too. I t reduces your risk of cancer and some forms of osteoporosis. It fights the battle of the bulge, taking off fat and building muscle. Walking can even help people with diabetes, reduce or eliminate their need for medication.

The Joint Saver Walking can burn as many calories per mile as jogging does. But it delivers only about a quarter of the jolt, so it's much easier on your joints and muscles.

The DeStressor Walking's easy on your mind, too, since it lessens stress and lightens depression. Beginning walkers usually report that they feel better, sleep better and that their mental outlook improves.

The Winner Best of all, walking has the lowest dropout rate of any form of exercise. So you're more likely to stick with it and get all these benefits and more, like better digestion, improved regularity and lower blood pressure.

There's Nothing To It! Just put on a sturdy, comfortable pair of shoes and go. Walk to the store for the paper,park a few blocks from work, or get of the train or bus one stop early and walk from there. Use stairs instead of elevators and escalators. On bad weather days, walk in a mall or on a treadmill.

How fast should you go? That's easy, just use the "talk test." Move at a steady clip that makes your heart beat faster and causes you to breathe more deeplybut doesn't leave you too breathless to carry on a conversation.

Hodder & Stoughton Press Release

FINAL DEPARTURES

Barry Albin Dyer, the man who lifted the lid on the greatest taboo of all death is back.

Britain's most remarkable undertaker takes an extraordinary journey around the world and across time to explore the mystery of death. Along the way he examines how different cultures and individuals mark the end of a life rituals that range from the conventional and unusual to the downright strange!

The book follows the runaway success of Barry's first book, Don't Drop The Coffin, which revealed the secrets of the funeral profession and Barry's own memories of life in London family firm F A Albin & Sons, as well as the television series of the same name which was recently broadcast on ITVI to great acclaim.

In Final Departures, Barry leaves the boundaries of his beloved Bermondsey to take a whistlestop tour of death around the world from the mummies of ancient Egypt to the technofunerals of modernday Korea and the futuristic plan to send ashes into space.

The book reveals littleknown details about the famous deaths that have affected millions, such as Elvis, Diana Princess of Wales, and Eva Peron. It also considers less wellknown but equally unique 'departures' such as the woman whose body is stored in a glass coffee table in her husband's living room!

Funeral practices range from gruesome and bizarre to beautiful and moving bone cleaning in Sicily, the 'Death Farm' in Tennessee and the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico are just some of the examples Barry explores. Final Departures also looks at Barry's role in repatriating the remains of British victims of the September 11th attacks in America, and remarkable stories such as the canonization of Saint Bernadette.

Says Barry: "Death is a wonderful mystery that affects every single one of us, yet we talk little about what it means to die. I feel privileged to have had an insight into cultures around the globe and wanted to record the knowledge and wisdom I've picked up on my travels and encounters in the strange, stigmatized world of funerals, death and bereavement."

Final Departures was published on 23 October 2003 by Hodder & Stoughton, priced E9.99 (ISBN 0 340 86163 0).

please contact Sarah Dennis for further information

T. 020 7873 6044 F. 020 7873 6069 sarah.dennis@... 338 Euston Road London NWI 3BH www.madaboutbooks.com

While there is no mention of cryonics in this press release, (perhaps it's no longer considered that weird) there is a chapter on cryonics. (20 pages) . There's a photo of Andy Zawacki standing next to a cryostat. Albin continues to be honest about his opinion of cryonics; that it won't work, but he is committed to complying with a person's wishes, in a professional manner, regardless of his personal feelings. He mentions the Ted Williams affair, and gives a comprehensive report on Remy Martinot, the Frenchman who had (or has) his parents stored in a freezer in his basement.

CI Member Policies to Remember

The cryonic suspension fee minimum of $28,000 (Option One) or $35,000 (Option Two) pays for the perfusion, cooldown and storage of a patient in the Detroit, Michigan area. The $28,000 or $35,000 does not include the services of a funeral director outside of the Detroit area nor for shipping costs to Detroit. A person living in California, for example, should allocate up to $5,000 in additional funding (bringing the sum to $33,000 Option One, $40,000 Option Two) . This is for Section 2 (ie. PAYMENT) of the Cryonic Suspension Agreement, if they wish to make these payments through insurance. Otherwise, funeral service costs & shipping must be paid for by relatives or friends of the Patient unless they have been prepaid and prearranged by the Patient to the funeral director.

The Local Help Rider is an agreement for CI to use money above the minimum (above $28,000 or $35,000) to pay for shipping and preparation by a remote funeral director. Minimum funding is risky and illadvised. Funding well above the minimum also allows Members to pay for more expensive cryopreservation technologies should these become available in the future or should cryopreservation prices increase for some reason.

Rider A of the Cryonic Suspension Agreement specifies what is to be done with the Suspension Fee money if cryopreservation cannot be accomplished (as, for example, would happen if a person died in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and no human remains were found). Version 1 returns the money to the estate, whereas Version 2 gives the money to CI. Version 1 may benefit relatives, whereas Version 2 benefits CI and the cause of cryonics. Version 2 (leaving the money to CI, whatever happens) may also prevent relatives from trying to block a cryopreservation for their own benefit.

Members are required to send CI verification of insurance or other funding at least once per year. CI will act immediately to cryopreserve a Member whose funding has been verified within the past year. Members experiencing a cryonics emergency on a weekend who have not verified funding within the past year may have to wait for funding verification before receiving cryonics services thus risking being straightfrozen rather than perfused. The yearly verification process can be avoided by making CI the owner of the insurance policy. CI will return ownership to any member who decides to reclaim ownership.

Cryonics Mission to Mars

By Jim Yount

Why not send a frozen guy to Mars? The British have just landed, kind of. The American Rover's shutterbug gallery is postcard perfect (see: www.NASA.gov). So when are we going to send a person? And when we do send a person, why not a frozen guy?

We could freeze him here, put him on a rocket, thaw him at the other end, and put him to work. Then when his work is done, freeze him again. Don't bother to bring him back. He will be frozen. He will have no appointments! Just keep him on ice until there are plenty more people on Mars, and they can thaw him. By then he probably won't have to work. He will be a celebrity, do Martian talk shows, and judge talent on Martian Idol. A cool gig for a cool cat.

Don't we wish? But we aren't quite there yet. We can't freeze a whole human, or any animal with a backbone, for any significant period of time; with recovery, that is. Or can we?

A Great Big Jar of Frozen "Little People"

One of the thorniest problems with colonizing Mars is the huge cost to transport people. How better to transport them than as tiny "frozen guys"? We freeze fertilized human eggs (blastocysts, also called early stage embryos). We keep them frozen for as long as is needed. Ship a couple hundred, or even several thousand, to Mars in cryogenic dewars, then bring them to term by incubating them invitro, or even implanting them in human mothers.

Teeny Boppers Take Flight

With humans acting as incubators, there would be no reason to have any men as the first colonists. The crew and colonists of the expedition would consist entirely of prepubescent girls: just big enough, smart enough, and old enough to be mentally and physically capable of establishing a permanent settlement. By "manning" our space flight with teenyboppers, we keep down the weight of astronauts, and minimize the perperson nutriment requirements inflight.

The weight of the astronaut, and the expected food and water consumption, is a prime consideration in keeping the overall payload within mission "specs." A review of the growth and mental maturity curve for girls indicates that girls of age eight would make ideal astrokids. Assuming inflight time of 260 days (consistent with minimum transit time estimates) the tykes would go though an entire school year making the trip. Their teachers would be video and computer programs, and live Earth teaches in radio contact with the crew.

According to the U.S. CDC National Center for Health Statistics pediatric growth chart, an "average" (50 percentile) girl of age eight weighs in at a trim 55 pounds, and can be expected to put on only about five pounds growth weight in the 260 days it takes to fly from lowearth orbit to a landing on Mars. Even that weight gain can be curtailed by control of human growth hormone. They could be deprived of growth hormone during the trip, and then given booster shots to allow their growth to catch up on arrival at Mars when weight is no longer such a prime consideration.

Upon arrival on the Red Planet, the young (nine years old) crew can have as many as six and a half years of work (aided, of course, by our best robotic workers) to establish living quarters before they reach childbearing age. Although adolescence can bear children as young as age 13, delaying the deliver of the first children to be born on Mars until the expectant mothers are at least 15 ½ is probably in order. The only "doctors" on the expedition, will be kiddoctors trained by computer and video programs, so there is every reason to keep the risk of childbirth as low as possible.

How many astrokids/colonists would be needed for our girlpower crew? Because most of the future colonists are being transported as fertilized eggs, we need not be concerned that the small number of astrokids will result in low "genetic variation." In his 1971 "Jenken's Report," Morris Jenkens called for five mission specialists in his suggested "there and back" scenario. His specialists included: Mission Commander, Systems Engineer, Geologist, Physician, and Geochemist. The crew of the oneway only "children's crusade" could certainly number at least twice that count of diminutive passengers. The experience of Jenken's crew would be more than made up for (in some situations at least) by "expert systems" in the computer, and the expected long years to gain experience by the youthful spacers.

Each mother could bring to term six to eight frozen tots in her lifetime. In theory, the young women could do twice that, but that would be to turn them into nothing but walking baby factories rather than colonists and explorers with big families.

The second generation of Martians (the first generation born on Mars) would be ready to procreate about 16 years from birth. From a standpoint of buildingup the colony, there is no reason for more than a couple of males born every generation, and those purely as "backups" should there be a failure in the frozen people program. However, from a sociological standpoint, the number of males would probably be increased above this minimum. I would be content to leave such decisions to the Martians; they are the ones who will have to live with such choices.

Given that six out of eight Martians born in the first four generation after planetfall would be female, and that the colony is able to expand living space and other resources apace with population increase, the buildup would look like this:

Martian Population Increase

Female Male Generation Total Overall Total At Year

Planetfall generation: 10 0 10 10 0

2nd generation 60 20 80 90 1635

3rd generation 360 40 400 490 3251

4th generation 2,160 720 2880 3370 4867

As you can see from the chart, starting with just ten preteen female colonists, the Martian population would be two to three thousand after just sixty earth years.

The years are "earth years"; zero death rate is assumed. When death finally does start to claim nativeborn Martians, the prospect of cryonic suspension may be especially appealing to them. They will, no doubt, remember that a good many of them arrived on planet as "frozen guys".

This scenario is not attractive to teenage boys of our generation hankering to be space cadets or Martians. But all those unmated females on Mars might be an added attraction for future male tourists on Martian vacation!

There is another interesting scenario where all births are invitro, and there is no need for females as baby incubators. Under those circumstances, the numbers of female vs. males given in the chart above could be completely reversed.

It must be emphasized, however, that having a population of Martians as the originally colony, and later to largely be made up of teenage and preteen boys is definitely NOT a good idea. Once they tamed Mars, they would, likely as not, return to the earth to try to take over a second planet!

Frozen Guys of Mars

By having our women found Mars, there is no need to waste valuable fuel and payload on a return trip. Another way a oneway trip could be achieved is as a variation of the old "suicide mission" scenario. We would recruit, as Mars missioners, people who wished to be frozen when they died and who had some terminal medical condition, which made death likely within a few years.

With the ambient temperature on the red planet averaging about minus 53 degrees Celsius, a death anywhere on Mars would assure one of being frozen. That temperature is low enough to provide a pretty good "freezedry," but not nearly as cold as a cryonicist would hope for. Still, there are some of us who think that even temperatures of a Martian hotspell might be good enough for adequate preservation of enough information describing "the person" to be worthwhile. If the spacecraft and exploration crew consists of several terminal ill cryonicists, then it may well be possible to set up selfservicing "cold chambers" on Mars that use wind or solar power to run generators to liquefy gas from the atmosphere, which would then act as a media for keeping the astronaut/cryonaut cold. Two point seven percent of the Martian atmosphere consists of Nitrogen gas, just waiting to be liquefied for us cryonicists!

Under this scenario, given a crew of two or more, there would (of course) be a "last man standing" who would either have to freeze himself, or depend on the ambient Martian temperature to keep him cold.

The future revival of these cryonaut missioners would be dependent upon 1) the eventual permanent colonization of Mars; 2) the attainment of a level of technical sophistication on Mars commensurate with cryonics revival; 3) the attainment of some technology, somewhere, capable of reanimating the subjects; 4) the will of people of the future to undertake the reanimation. On this last point, there is good reason to believe it will come about. The cryonicist who dies and is frozen under such circumstances will likely be regarded as a hero to future Martians.

Choosing cryonicists for this mission would not be easy. The medical condition would have to be such that it is highly likely that the person will not live an extended time, but such that the medical condition would not interfere with doing active work for the expected duration of the mission, perhaps several years.

Use of the services of the terminally ill cryonicists on a oneway trip to Mars would be a fairly quick way to achieve a permanent Martian settlement. Such cryonicists could establish rocket fuel processing centers, for example, to make routine EarthMars round trips practical. The Martian atmosphere could be "mined" to produce hydrogen, hydrocarbons, or argon gas as propellants for earthbound (return trip) spacecraft. Other chemicals, taken from the atmosphere or from Martian soil, can produce other useful chemicals, such as ammonia for growing vegetables in the colony greenhouse. Interestingly, liquid nitrogen is a byproduct of a number of those chemical processes! Permanent settlers or twoway trippers would find a working habitat in place when they arrived, along with some frozen cryonauts! And all thanks to the Frozen Guys of Mars!

Reality Check

Space exploration has proved to be dangerous work. There is no reason to believe that tripping to Mars, and establishment of colonies there, will be any less hazardous. Neither of the proposals made here, are apt to be adopted, at least not by the US. NASA seems always in a publicity campaign to justify itself and its programs as somehow benefiting us in the short term, rather than simply because we need to do science! The idea of sending little girls with frozen human eggs on a oneway trip to Mars is not apt to become a NASA proposal! Neither is the plan to recruit cryonicists with terminal medical conditions to do a "suicide" mission.

When we finally do send men and women to Mars, and later attempt colonization, the loss in lives, squandering of resources, and waste of time may prove far more foolish and costly than implementing either of these "radical" proposals.

Death and Cryonics: A Case for Immortality

by Sara Olson

Sara is currently living with her fiancée while studying English at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. She's originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota and the couple plan to return there after she completes her education. She has an extensive interest in anthropology, the arts and literature, and looks forward to "studying them even more extensively in the centuries to come." She recently signed a suspension contract with CI, after getting a life insurance policy through Rudi Hoffman.

At the age of seven, I was given the best argument for life extension and immortality that I could ever experience. My grandfather died the January after my seventh birthday, and though I remember very little about the entire ordeal, I still very vividly remember one short moment from that mortifying weekend.

The surroundings are blurred out in my memory, as if the camera of my mind's eye carried a heavy diffusion of all but the most important people present with me that day. And of course my mind recalls with acute clarity the most important person of all present, but simultaneously not present, in that room: My grandfather. My Uncle Terry picked me up, his eyes filled with tears (I believe that he was the first man I had ever seen cry). We both stared, disbelieving, into the coffin, gazing for the last time upon the empty death pallor of my grandfather.

"You can touch him if you want to," My uncle offered. I had never touched the dead body of any creature before, let alone a human. I was curious and frightened by the idea, but overcame my momentary revulsion enough to reach out and touch death with the innocent curiosity of a child.

It is easily the worst thing my hands have perceived. The flesh didn't feel human. Devoid of any heat or even the ghost of life, this was truly death incarnate. Even the chair I had been sitting in while waiting for the viewing to start seemed to hold within it more life than this frightfully frigid husk of flesh and bone that lay before me. At least the antique piece of furniture I had previously occupied felt as if it resonated with a piece of those who had occupied it in the days and decades before me. But when I touched his fragile shell, there was nothing. Nothing was left there of the man I had loved and played with for the first seven years of my life.

Fifteen years later, all I have to do to rekindle my desire for a life without death is take myself back to that warmly formal room, stand again in front of that repulsive metal box, and reach out and once again touch the antithesis to life that lay before me that snowy January evening. I know that if it comes to it, I will not abide even the idea that I could spend eternity in a coffin slowly decomposing into dust, or, even worse, transforming to dust in a matter of hours in a mortifyingly violent kiln. Neither of them offer me even the faintest hope of ever emerging from that terrible state that I experienced that day.

When I learned about cryonics, I knew I had found my lifeboat. If, heaven forbid, it comes to the point where this body fails me before medical technology allows me to extend my life, I knew that cryonics would buy me the time I need to get my body to the time when my survival will be able to be guaranteed.

Though cryonics may not be the ultimate answer, it gives hope that my grandfather no longer has. Cryonics offers me the opportunity to someday emerge, victorious, over that abhorrent state of notbeing that I experienced through my grandfather so early in life. My grandfather's last lesson to me was, by far, the longest lasting and most important. Life is a gift to be held and treasured as often as possible. The alternative is inconceivable and irrevocable.

For me, there is no alternative.

Cold Water Drownings

Recently, someone questioned on Cryonet, the relevance of cold water drownings to cryonics. Charles Platt replied:

Coldwaterdrowning cases who have been revived after an hour or more without vital signs are relevant to cryonics in several ways.

1. They are living proof that postmortem brain damage can be delayed by hypothermia, especially if cooling occurs initially while the heart is still beating.

This is an important factor because blood circulation can withdraw heat from the body and brain far more rapidly than surface cooling alone, after the circulation has stopped. This should be reassuring to members of any cryonics organization that cools the patient promptly after legal death has been pronounced, provided an ice bath is supplemented with cardiopulmonary support to sustain some circulation of the blood.

2. They demonstrate that cellular processes in the brain can restart spontaneously after a period of total dormancy. Consciousness returns and memories are preserved. By extension, cryopatients may be similarly revived after decades rather than hours of stasis. This is a major credibility issue for many people.

3. Resuscitation of patients after more than an hour without vital signs is a direct challenge to anyone who believes that the soul leaves the body after "death" occurs. Since revived patients do not behave like zombies, we have to assume that the soul, if it exists, is still present. Therefore, either the soul doesn't leave, or there is no soul, or the person wasn't really dead. If the drowning victim wasn't really dead, then cryopatients aren't really dead either (so long as they have been properly cryopreserved).

I have debated the relevance of coldwaterdrowning cases at some length with a friend who feels that the cases are less convincing than, say, the catbrain experiments performed by Suda. Usually the coldwaterdrowning cases do not provide specific data, such as the exact time when cardiac arrest occurred. Nor was anyone able to measure brain activity or body temperature. Thus the cases are dissatisfying compared with properly controlled lab work.

On the other hand, when trying to present cryonics in a way that people find palatable, I prefer to avoid the disturbing image of isolated cat brains being reperfused with blood. I think it is much easier to talk about cute little children who are revived after being very very cold.

Most journalists apparently share this outlook; the case of Brittany Eichelberger (who was rescued from a snow drift one Christmas Eve) was featured twice in People magazine, and she also appeared on TV. Thus far, the isolated cat brains have not attracted an equal amount of media attentionand if they did, I doubt it would be as positive.

Numerous cases of coldwaterdrowning, followed by resuscitation, are reported each year. You'll find a bunch of histories (some on PubMed) if you use a search string such as "cold water drowning" resuscitation

Charles Platt

Two Davids

David Devor writes

I read, with interest, in a recent issue of The Immortalist, David Pizer's recommendation to speculate in real estate in your area based on rumors of a Six Flags venture.

David Pizer replies:

I hate to call it a recommendation.

Should the Cryonics Institute decide on such land speculation and accept foreign participants, I would be interested in buying a piece of the action. BTW, I'll be visiting Miami on Dec. 1524 for a conference there.

I doubt if it would be considered safe enough for a cryonics company investment. But gamblers might want to take a small chance here. Especially if you were using money you could afford to lose.

Editor's note: David, (Devor) I'm just the editor here, but based on past experience CI does not want to get into other ventures. Its only purpose in life is to freeze and store those frozen. The only departure so far has been to accept tissue samples for freezing from members. Why don't you write to Pizer himself?? (Pizer is located in Arizona,, I'm in Florida..)

Sorry to bother you again, but have you an email address for him? I was thinking that if you published my letter, it might get some echoes. If the entry cost is low enough and the upside very great, even Prof. Ettinger might think it worth doing in some kind of framework if not the C.I. itself. It does sound like a rare opportunity.

I am not sure this is a good investment for a group of people who don't know each other. I am not an expert at putting groups together. There is some risk here.

David Pizer

Long Term Personal Storage at CI

Recently there was an inquiry about CI providing members personal storage space. This discussion took place at Cryonics_Institute@yahoogroups.com

From Ben Best

The figure I quoted of $6 per year for a banker's box volume in a limestone cave was secondhand information from what I believe is a reliable source. But people who are interested should take prices directly from the vendor, and not from me.

I have previously felt that our storage allowance were too generous and now as President (with Robert Ettinger's agreement) I am implementing a new policy for perpetual storage. A Member will have a 2inch limit on the amount of material they can include in their Member/Patient file for perpetual storage. Members/Patients who currently have more than this amount will be grandfatheredin at their current holdings.The two inches includes all of the signup documents, insurance and similar materials, plus whatever else a Member may want to send. Option Two Members can have two inches as well, but if they do not keep their dues paid, they lose the privilege, unless they become patients.

Members who want more space can buy space in a lockable filing cabinet drawer which will be reserved for them in perpetuity. The filing cabinet will be on the CI premises and will be protected with nearly the same diligence as the patients. The drawer volume is 2feet deep, 1foot wide and 9inches high. The cost will be $1,000 per drawer. Although filing cabinets are not expensive, perpetual storage space has a cost. Option One Members can buy the space predeanimation, but Option Two Members can only buy the space as patients. Option One Members can remove materials and add materials from theirdrawer(s) at any time, but must pay shipping and handling costs.

Perpetuity means forever. We will have an agreement similar to the suspension agreement.

Realistically nothing is forever the Sun will burnout, entropy will rundown, and protons will decay. But try taking us to court after protons have decayed! Seriously, CI will make "best efforts" to maintain these drawers in perpetuity for as long as they are wanted.

Ben Best

Again, from Ben:

"Carl" writes:

$1000 for a file drawer? Is it made of solid gold with platinum handles?

Carl

The filing cabinet is not expensive. Preservation in perpetuity requires both real estate and stewardship. Compare this with storage prices at other sites eg http://www.publicstorage.com/ where you will be paying lots more for a few decades of storage.

Shoparound and let me know if you can beat this price anywhere for even 100 years of storage for a comparable volume. I doubt that anywhere else even offers perpetual storage. Mind you, perpetual storage does mean "until something goes horribly wrong", like a nuclear strike. But in that case, the patients and our own lives would be lost as well.

Ben

"Giuseppe" wrote:

Please, I like to know if CI can store just one CD of personal data in the suspension member's file indefinitely (free of charge). It would include an autobiography, major event photos and a character/personality profile. I think that this would be enough for me to reconstruct my memory. What does everybody think about this?

As I mentioned, every CI Member can use up to 2inches of file folder space at no extra charge. With the normal amount of paperwork, a single CD should add about 3/8 of an inch (just under a centimeter) to your width allotment and therefore be within bounds.

Ben Best

From:"ladyrhianna"

As to the storage issue, I personally wouldn't expect CI to hold anything serious, if anything at all. Maybe a space the size of a couple shoeboxes for each member for the items they know they'd want immediately upon revival (some jewelry, a book or two, personal papers, etc). This is all I would personally and reasonably expect from CI in this regard. What you would choose to charge for such a service is, of course, completely up to you. I'd say whatever you need to charge in order to cover those costs.

My thought would also be that, if a person chooses storage of some possessions offsite, it would be nice if CI could keep records of what is stored where, in case one's memory did not make it through suspension completely intact, so they could at least reacquire their personal items (Even if, god forbid, they didn't quite remember what they were or why they were significant .

From: James Swayze

Forgive me if I am mistaken and perhaps conflating Alcor policies with CI's but I thought we already stored a certain size of container for each member. I agree, however, that the benign atmosphere of the limestone mine facility would be better for certain types of data. One should try where possible to scan all photos and documents into digital form because certain paper medium can deteriorate with time, especially acid treated. Photos can fade depending how old they are to begin with. Digitizing also decreases the size but where one might want the originals to survive for sentimental reasons a backup is wise and moreover a duplicate backup at a different local is wiser.

If one is thinking about storing collectibles for sentimental reasons this is fine but if expecting them the be an investment it is my opinion that future technologies will allow the complete, down to every minute scratch at the atomic level, duplication therefore rendering all collectibles for investment valueless. The only items of this nature that will be safe will be those encased in acrylic and under 24 hour guard from anyone slipping a few nano spies onto so to record the duplication map. In other words, in my humble opinion, don't waste your time and money trying to horde gold coins or whatever.

These subjects are vital to our endeavors and especially discussions about how we might actually achieve reanimation. Now is the time to plan our revival and what terms for it we would accept. As someone pointed out having a more complete map for the journey goes farther for gaining new members than does proselytizing them with our faith that others will do it for us when.

As to reconstructing memories and let's not forget also *personalities* that might not weather the trip so well I think it is useful to record what types of media or meme generators that influenced you to become who you are and why you made this and other choices. To this end, as it has been discussed on cryonet before, we each need to make a video interview to ourselves to be played back upon need after reanimation. Perhaps the conversion of such from tape and other media to DVD could be something it would make more sense for one agency such as CI to handle rather than we each trying so on our own.

Questions:

1. Why only one hundred years storage at the Underground Vault Storage facility?

2. Could they be persuaded to extend it?

3. Does anyone have the price for prepaying that one hundred years worth of storage, $6 one time fee sounds too good to be true to me?

James

From John de Rivaz

You need to be aware that data on CDs will only last of the order of 50 years. Also CD standards and players last only a few years, and it would be necessary for CI to keep the digital files re recorded into the latest format as standards change. Maybe a permanent nanotechnology based standard will emerge, but the history of technology suggests that standards never last long. Try replaying an old wire recording, for example, or even a video tape recording made with an early Sony domestic VCR, such as the CV2100CE.

John de Rivaz:

From RonHavelock

John, all of what you say is true about standards. (I have a lot of old beta tapes and a beta player somewhere in the attic to demonstrate the point) but we are also getting better and better at retrieving old stuff. I doubt that retrieving material from an old wire recording would be much of a challenge to an expert in such things any more than reading heiroglyphs is a challenge to an Egyptologist. Classicists like my late father have been reading Greek off pottery chards for generations. That stuff goes back 3,000 years. The great advantages of digital recording are [1] extreme accuracy, [2] extreme compaction, and [3] extremely rapid and cheap transfer within and across media. These are all important for storing large quantities of material which are important in preserving aspects of our personal identity.

I am not sure where you get your "50 years" from but the third feature I mention above suggests the possibility of moreorless infinite preservation simply by transferring items to the most advanced media of the time, assuming there is somebody on hand who cares. Additionally, as we move toward nanotech, required space will shrink, not expand, so that the storage costs for any one individual will become minimal if not even miniscule.

CI might be well advised to move aggressively into the identity storage business, adding a very positive and noncontroversial feature which might even attract new cryonauts if done well. Thus a subscriber could say to his or herself, "well, even if they can't bring me back, I have preserved a record of many of the things which are most important to me. Somebody some day may open up my recorded self and, to some degree, reexperience the life I have had."

Ron Havelock

p.s. this is a potential project to which I might be willing to devote some time and effort in league with others.

This issue of The Immortalist is a milestone of sorts. It’s the first issue with a full color, full page, PAID advertisement! In case you missed it, it’s on the outside rear cover, a Life Extension Foundation (LEF) ad. The ad is the result of a conversation Ben Best had with Bill Faloon, LEF’s President, when he was in South Florida recently. Good job Ben! And as they say in the business, "support our advertisers!" The CI ad that was formerly on the rear cover has been moved to the inside front cover.

With all the food manufacturers jumping on the low carb bandwagon, it’s good to remember that just a few short years ago, anyone who even mentioned Dr, Robert Atkins and his revolutionary weight loss ideas, was branded a quack and a nutcase. He wrote his first book about the "Low Carb Lifestyle" thirty years ago. Atkins died this past April after slipping on a patch of ice in front of his Manhattan office. It’s only been recently that his ideas have been vindicated. It’s a shame he couldn’t live to see how things have changed.

One wonders if the change in the public perception of cryonics will happen just as quickly, or will it take a prolonged period.

Later, he added, 'I want things to happen quickly. I certainly want to benefit within my lifetime. I don’t want to get out of this wheelchair at the age of seventy-five. I am fifty-one, and am now very healthy, and would like to be out of the chair very soon. I'm not willing to resign myself to being an advocate for research that will benefit people only after I'm gone. I'm not that noble." He laughed, but it wasn’t a joke.

Even more controversial, Reeve believes that researchers need to stop being so timid about giving experimental therapies to humans. In the United States a new therapy is typically tested on animals for years before it is tested on humans, and even then it is administered to a slowly growing group.

Most scientists think that this approach protects patients, but Reeve believes that it often harms more than it helps---by slowing science to a crawl.

In our conversation, he described how, in a commencement address at an Ivy League medical school, he had told the students the story of Hans Keirstead, a professor at Irvine. Keirstead, who was working with human embryonic stem cells, had designed a treatment protocol that shortened the three stages of a traditional clinical trial to two stages. 'I said to the audience, 'This is how these young guys are thinking. This is a young scientist who really wants to make a difference. What he did was truly commendable,'" Reeve recalled

Afterward, he went on, This tenured professor said to me, "That is very disturbing. It's very upsetting, because thats rushing things, and if one mistake is made it could set the whole field back ten years."

Reeve replied, "It might be upsetting to you, because it's not the way you are used to thinking. But it’s not upsetting  to me as a patient. Because, let's face it, nothing of any significance has ever been achieved without reasonable risk."

"Early results have been promising, however, and nobody appears to have been harmed. In October, Wise Young, the researcher at Rutgers, traveled to Beijing to examine Huang's patients. "I saw this with my own eyes," he told me. No one should view Huang’s protocol as miraculous, Young said, "but it is bringing back sensation and some motor function." All the patients in Huang's study had chronic injuries, he said; on average, they had been paralyzed for two years. "One very puzzling thing is that many of the patients are recovering function within three to five days, which is too fast for regeneration," Young added. "There may be some other mechanism of recovery that we don’t understand.'

Reeeve is even more excited by the work of Dr. Hongyun Huang, a Chinese neurosurgeon. Huang, making a leap that Reeve applauds and others condemn, has injected olfactory glial cells into the spinal cords of nearly four hundred paralyzed patients, including three Americans. Huang obtained the glial cells from aborted human fetuses. (Such fetal-tissue research is banned in some U.S. states, and the Bush Administration supports a federal ban.)

The speed with which Huang has moved to clinical trials has stunned many in the West. Some scientists, such as Ram6n-Cueto, think it is important to do more research first; she is determined to do primate trials of her method before proposing human studies. Given that scientists do not yet fully understand why glial-cell implantation works in rats, the F.D.A. would also, likely have been wary of green lighting Huang's study.

Since news of Huangs success leaked out on Internet discussion groups, thousands of desperate patients have contacted him. Huang has set up a program that allows Americans and other non-Chinese to visit Beijing for one month, for surgery and preliminary rehabilitation. The cost is twenty thousand dollars; six thousand people, Huang says, are now on a waiting list for the program.

Young, who has created a Web site, Sciwire.com, to dispel rumors overstating the promise of new methods, tells patients who ask about Huang's trial to wait for more data. "But there is no way

you can talk these people out of doing it," he said. "You can tell them wait another year until the paper has come out and maybe he’ll come to the states and they say, Hey, I don’t want to wait three or four years to try this."'

When asked what part of his rehabilitation he treasured most, he replied " The warmth of human skin was the sensation he valued most. Feeling my children’s touch again—that’s been the most amazing thing. Adapted from The New Yorker

Important Note: A lot of these items are from sources designed for public consumption and contain no references or further information. It is up to readers to do their own web searches or whatever for further information.

Medical system is leading cause of death and injury in US

Shocking statistical evidence is cited by Gary Null PhD, Caroly Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD and Dorothy Smith PhD in their recent paper Death by Medicine - October 2003, released by the Nutrition Institute of America.

"A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million. The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251.

 

High-Tech Daydreamers Investing in Immortality

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/01/arts/01AGE.html?pagewanted=all&position=

By JAMES GORMAN

Published: November 1, 2003

AMDEN, Me. — Aubrey de Grey took the stage of the Camden Opera House, tugging at a beard worthy of Methuselah, to tell his listeners that they could triumph over death.

Mr. de Grey was not selling an afterlife or a metaphor. He is a geneticist at the University of Cambridge, in England, and his prophecy was straightforward if hard to believe: Getting old and dying are engineering problems. Ageing can be reversed and death defeated. People already alive will live a thousand years or longer.

	Advertisement

He was at pains to argue that what he calls "negligible senescence," and what the average person would call living forever, is inevitable. His proposed war on ageing, he said, is intended to make it happen sooner and make it happen right. He subscribes, it seems, to the philosophy articulated by Woody Allen: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."

This notion of getting in on the ground floor of immortality was apparently appealing to the roughly 500 people who came in mid-October to this coastal town of big yachts and small gift shops about 70 miles northeast of Portland to attend Pop!Tech, an annual technology conference. They were ready for the Next Big Thing. After all, many of them were present at the creation of the last one, the spread of the personal computer and the explosive growth of the Internet.

Stephen M. Case, the founder of AOL, was here, as were John Scully and Robert Metcalfe, who started the conference seven years ago. Mr. Scully was the chief executive of Apple, after he had left PepsiCo. Mr. Metcalfe invented the Ethernet and founded 3Com, among a few other achievements, before he became a venture capitalist. Other, lesser known entrepreneurs and investors, along with dot-com veterans, a gaggle of journalists and the merely curious, also attended to look for new ideas or promote them, and to use the gathering of thinkers and talkers as a guide to what's next.

The answer was clear. Now that the giddiness and glamour of the killer app and ultimate hand-held gizmo have passed into memory, it is biology that beckons. The possibility of making money out of biotech is of obvious interest. But the more exciting question in the air was not so much where to put your money as what to think about. Differentiating between vision and fantasy would come next.

Many in the audience seemed unafraid of amending the presumed laws of nature. When Juan Enriquez, from the Harvard Business School, displayed an X-ray of a chicken with three wings and asked who believed that this sort of research ought to continue, about two-thirds of those in the audience raised their hands. This was before they knew its purpose, which is to understand how to regenerate damaged tissues for human beings.

Mr. Enriquez said he was surprised, as well he might be. It is not often you find 300 people ready to vote for extra limbs, no matter the reason.

Other speakers addressed the importance of stem cell research, ocean exploration, a crisis in the patent system, the soul-deadening effect of suburbs, and the mode by which the Earth will die.

For audacity of imagination, though, Mr. de Grey was matched only by Joe Davis, a molecular artist from M.I.T. with a peg leg and a devilish glint in his eye, who, with the help of scientists at Harvard and M.I.T. has made art of DNA by inserting coded messages into the genes of bacteria. He does not work only with DNA. He also pointed out that drawings sent into space, presumably for curious extraterrestrials, lacked anatomically correct female genitalia. He has not been able to remedy that, but he did record vaginal contractions and translate them into a radio broadcast.

He also provided instruction in basic biology using a DNA model made of garden hose to great effect. All in all it was a perfect atmosphere for Mr. de Grey, whose campaign against death has something of the feeling of an Internet start-up. On one hand he is promising the world. On the other, the underlying science and technology are real, Mr. de Grey argued. And the business plan is, if nothing else, bold.

Yet without true expertise in some very sophisticated biology, it was hard to know how far away from the mainstream he was.

Mr. de Grey is probably several steps ahead of the avant garde in his conviction that the 4,000- or 5,000-year life is right around the corner. But extending the average human life to 150 years is commonly discussed. And some gerontologists say there is no theoretical limit to the human life span.

Mr. de Grey's ideas were not completely new to people who have been pondering cyborgs and artificial intelligence for years. "I think, and I've thought this for a long time, that we live, roughly speaking, in the last generation of human beings," said Whitfield Diffie, chief of security for Sun Microsystems, a pioneer in encryption, and a freewheeling thinker often sought after for such conferences as a speaker. He was just visiting this year and said he was fascinated by the grand claims for the biological century, which he views as probably too conservative.

He is convinced, he said, that there are probably people alive already today who will have unlimited life spans. And he was unimpressed by the scepticism of more conservative experts in the field of ageing. After all, he said, he had witnessed change coming rapidly from unexpected directions in the digital world.

Mark Hurst, who runs a consulting company in New York and founded a Web site for consumer complaints, thisisbroken.com, said after the meeting that he was "sceptical and entertained." But, he said, "as far as actually believing it," he thinks most of those he talked to at Pop!Tech had the same question about the scientific details as he did, "What the heck was he talking about?"

Mr. de Grey compared the cellular and molecular damage that ageing causes to what happens to a house. Houses keep going, he said, not because they are built to be immortal, but because people keep repairing them. Science should take the same approach to the human body, he argued; many, if not all, of the techniques for making such repairs are already available.

He also had an answer for how to pay for the necessary research. First prove that the life of laboratory mice can be extended. Once people realize that ageing can be reversed in a mammal, he said, research will take off, and the demand for extending life far beyond the current limits will be universal. Then people can just keep repairing themselves and researching new ways to take care of future damage.

To get this whole process going, Mr. de Grey established the Methuselah Mouse Prize in September. The prize is drawn from a fund, at methuselahmouse.org, now open for donations. A portion of it is to be offered each time the record is broken for prolonging mouse life. A portion will also be offered for reversing ageing, which is a more complicated calculation. The prize fund stands at $28,448.

With enough money, Mr. de Grey said, it would take about 10 years to find a proven method for taking any 2-year-old mouse, already two-thirds of the way through a normal life, and extending it to five years, the equivalent of 150 years for humans. At that point the war on human ageing could begin in earnest.

Mr. de Grey described himself as a theoretician, and as such he holds a position that is rejected by most researchers into the science of ageing. For instance, Leonard P. Guarente, a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, "The idea of people living to a thousand is preposterous." There are mechanisms that may well allow extending life, he said, but so much goes wrong as organisms deteriorate with age that "trying to fix everything that's going wrong is impossible."

Mr. de Grey is undeterred by criticism and relatively unconcerned about suggestions that near-immortality, if achievable, might not be entirely a good thing. Asked what would happen to reproduction when the living started to accumulate the way the dead do now, taking up all the space, he said they would no doubt resent new arrivals. He said matter-of-factly that it would be, by and large, a world without children.

He recognized that there would be difficult issues to face but brushed aside any suggestion that defeating death was not a fundamentally good thing to do.

"Ageing really is barbaric," he said. "It shouldn't be allowed. I don't need an ethical argument. I don't need any argument. It's visceral. To let people die is bad."

Although Mr. de Grey got his listeners talking and thinking, there was no indication that their interest meant they had signed on to the program. Mr. Diffie, for one, was unconvinced by the notion of death as something that arrived by accident in evolution. It was, after all, universal. "My nose for when I don't understand something tells me there's something here I don't understand," he said. " I don't think they understand it either."

The audience was not lacking in millionaires, but there was no great surge of donations to the Methuselah Mouse Prize after Mr. de Grey's talk. According to his online record of donations, $1,849 was received during or after Pop!Tech, which ran from Oct. 16 to 18.

Mr. de Grey has no illusions about the challenge he faces. He wants to establish an institute to direct research, he said, adding that he probably needs $500 million to achieve the goal of using mouse research to kick-start a global research explosion on human ageing. That includes the prize fund.

Just before a dinner the night after his talk, one of the participants in the conference approached him and asked, "Can we talk about funding?"

"Yeah," Mr. de Grey said, "how much money do you have?"

Important Note: A lot of these items are from sources designed for public consumption and contain no references or further information. It is up to readers to do their own web searches or whatever for further information.

We’re slowly beginning to think that we’re doing something good here. In this year’s January-February issue we pointed to the current issue of WIRED reporting on the advantages of taking two supplements, Acetyl L-Carnitine and Super Alpha Lipoic Acid, something that we had reported a year before, thanks to Peter Christiansen.

In this issue we report on the eight page spread in the July 13 issue of NEWSWEEK praising the virtues of statins in maintaining cardiovascular health, something that Doug Skrecky did in an Immortalist article at least a year ago.

Now comes a looser FDA ruling, reported in FLORIDA TODAY on how much scientific evidence is required to put a health claim on food packages. The first beneficiary of the ruling are the packers of nuts, specifically almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and peanuts. The list does not include macadamias, because of their high saturated fat content.

Packages of these nuts may now bear the following line: "Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease."

Glory be!! At least a year ago Doug Skrecky was urging Immortalist readers to eat a handful of peanuts a day as part of a heart healthy diet!!

Should Cryonicists Buy Defribrillators?

Diet and exercise can reduce cholesterol, but your doctor may determine that you need drugs too. Here’s some guidelines.

By John Bull

It’s been over a year now since Ted Williams died and was suspended by Alcor. His death touched off a firestorm of controversy between his children, John Henry Williams, who arranged William’s suspension and his sister Claudia, on one side, and their stepsister Bobby Jo Williams Ferrel, who contends her father never wanted to be frozen. Since December of last year, when Bobby Jo received $211,000 from their father’s trust, things have quieted down…somewhat.

According to reports in FLORIDA TODAY and The St Petersburg Times, one of the conditions of the payout was that Bobby Jo not comment to the press, or object to the court about the disposition of her father’s remains.

But Bobby Jo’s husband, Mark Ferrell can and is commenting. "They were stupid enough to leave me out of the settlement," he said, referring to John Henry, Claudia, Eric Abel, their attorney and the estate executor, Al Cassidy. "So I can keep fighting this, and I will."

And a few people are starting to come forward to confirm Bobby Jo’s story. Recently, on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Buzz Hamon, one of Williams’s longtime friends, said John Henry gradually shut his father off from his friends and the outside world. Hamon went on to say he spoke with Williams by phone, a month before he died. He said "I need a lawyer…. I’ve made a mistake" then there was some noise, and the phone went dead.

HBO also interviewed Ted William’s caretakers, Frank Brothers and George Carter. Brothers father was Williams longtime fishing buddy, and the younger Brothers knew the baseball great since he was a child. They all contend that it was never William’s desire to be suspended.

They further contend that the oil stained document containing Williams’s cryonic wish that John Henry produced a month after his father’s death was a forgery. The date on the document is November 2, 2000. They said they were with Williams day and night, each one spending 12 hours with their friend, while he awaited surgery for a pacemaker, and he never signed any piece of paper.

Frank Brothers said, "There’s no way that was done in that hospital room that day."

So Mark Ferrell continues the battle his wife was forced to give up, that is to have Ted Williams cremated and his ashes spread in the Florida Keys. "I am going to keep fighting this, I won’t quit, I promise."

Jack Nixon’s impression:

And last but not least, Kelly’s impression:

TORONTO SARS REPORT

Hi, I would like to report on the SARS situation in Toronto, if you as cryonet, and CSC readers are interested in hearing about it on this forum. I enjoy sharing SARS stories, because I don't think that there is any other cryonicist in the position to provide such information to the cryonics community. (That is uncensored, direct information, not skewed by the media or our public relations department). I think that the new reality of SARS is such that we as life extensionists can learn from it, and perhaps apply the lessons here to future biological threats.

I was told last night by one of the physicians I work with that my hospital has become THE authority on SARS in North America, as no one on this continent has had so much experience as us in battling it. We have more than 30 staff members infected, we have been treating the Toronto community at large with SARS since its onset in March, and our attempts at treating such a disease is groundbreaking and important.

The plastic barriers and hepafilters installed in our department were put in place because the nursing staff I work with (me included) filled out "unsafe work conditions" forms submitted to the Ministry of Labour in Ontario. We called the Ministry of Labour to come and inspect our workplace, as we knew that the existing barriers were completely inappropriate for containing this virus, and keeping us safe. Our management, physicians, or the CDC did not initiate this. I say this because I am very proud of how proactive and vocal our nursing staff has been in dealing with this disaster, and how instrumental they (we) have been in keeping SARS from spreading further.

The nursing profession has traditionally been suppressed and left out of the decision making process. In fact, as I stated before, "SARS Part Two", as it is affectionately being called, could have been completely avoided if the SARS taskforce had listened to our dire warnings that there were disturbing patterns emerging in the population we were serving, and flat out told us we were over-reacting, as they were issuing directives to all staff that it was ok to discontinue wearing N95 masks and other protective gear. I continue to present this information, because I strongly feel that we will have another outbreak if we do not remain absolutely vigilant. Every outbreak has started by one patient, which "got away".

The single biggest mistake that authorities made was insisting that SARS could not be diagnosed if an epidemiological link could not be established. A person could have a fever, shortness of breath, myalgia, etc, but if they could not recognize a contact with another SARS infected person, they refused to accept the possibility that that diagnosis could be made.

It has become evident that the SARS virus can survive on surfaces outside of the body for days, easily infecting people with no obvious relationship.

It has also been suggested that a building's ventilation system may possibly spread the virus between floors. We had an incident where two psychiatric patients became infected on our inpatient psych floor (7 west). There were also pockets of infection on 4 west (orthopedics), and 8 west, one of our SARS floors. Note the geographic location of these floors...all in the same wing of the hospital, perhaps sharing ventilation ducts. Also, I learned today that scientists in Alberta were able to isolate the virus in the air, suggesting the possibility that it may indeed be airborne, or be becoming an airborne virus. Two of our ICU nurses became infected, wearing protective gear, during the incubation of a patient...hence the introduction of the very expensive stryker suits ( the blue space suits in my photos).

The two individuals I reported on from the beginning...the 31 year old physician, and the 34 year old personal support worker...who have had SARS since March, remain on ventilators in our ICU...but they are finally showing real signs of improvement. Also, SARS virus is still being shed into our patients stool...weeks after the onset of symptoms...making it very difficult to establish how long the virus remains in the human body, and how long a patient remains infectious.

Initially, patients were being treated with a cocktail of broad-spectrum antibiotics, steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, and ribavarin. The ribavarin turned out to be useless, and in fact causing serious complications for the patient such as anemia. That was discontinued. We are currently using interferon, which is showing promise.

Also, I just learned last night that there will be a new study, starting shortly, which will assess the blood of health care workers such as myself who have been working with SARS, but have not become ill. The purpose of the study is to look for antibodies in our blood, to see if we have been exposed to the virus and developed immunity, as well as to explore the possibility that we can serve as potential carriers of SARS, by being "sub clinical", perhaps we were infected, developed very minor symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, etc and never knew that we were potentially infectious.

That's my SARS update for today

Christine….

Hi there. I am writing this to answer an email that Rick (Potvin) sent me. He asked for my opinion on the claim that licorice might be able to cure SARS. I also want to voice some of my thoughts about SARS, and give all of you an update about how its going in my little corner of the world. I have not heard of any SARS treatments involving licorice. We have 10 critically ill patients in our ICU, all on ventilators, all with SARS. Some of them are our own staff. Two patients died this week, one of which was a 45-year-old man, whose brother and mother also have SARS. (I think the mother died too).

I think that if our physicians believed that it was even possible to treat SARS with licorice, that they would try it. To date, 42 staff members of my hospital have come down with SARS. I think that that fact alone begrudgingly makes us the experts on how to deal with this disease. I can tell you, that even those who are expert in dealing with infectious disease are the first to state that there is far more we don't know about SARS than what we do know.

There will always be those who believe that there will be one natural substance out there that will cure all of the diseases that scare us the most. Always be wary of "cure all" solutions, as there really is no such thing.

I also want to comment on one of Rick's statements about SARS, where he ponders why the media is making such a big deal about it when the flu kills far more people. First of all, we can be immunized against influenza. SARS is a completely new disease, which has no cure, or immunization to date.

Secondly, if you are young and relatively healthy, you can feel quite confident in the knowledge that the flu probably won't kill you. With SARS, there really is no way of predicting who of us will recover, and who will die. SARS is a bigger threat than the flu for those reasons, and because there are a lot of aspects to studying SARS, which are worrisome.

There may be "super shedders", which are people who have a large viral load, and are better at spreading SARS than others. It has also been considered that there may be people with sub-clinical presentations of SARS, in which they show relatively few, if no symptoms, but are able to spread the disease easily. If these people are walking around, unknowingly spreading SARS in the community, there is no telling how many people will potentially become infected.

Then, there is a growing concern about how long the virus remains in the body. Consider this: A person becomes ill with SARS, and is hospitalized. 3 or 4 weeks go by, they get better and are discharged home. They are then placed on a 10 day home quarantine, and make follow up visits to the hospital 7 days, then 30 days post discharge for a follow up chest x ray and blood work. Is it possible that when they are discharged home, feeling somewhat better that they are still contagious? We have patients in our ICU who have been ill with SARS since late March. True, the virus may have passed and now they are suffering the organ damage brought on by the virus and the drugs used to treat it. But...they are still finding corona virus in these patients' stool.

Most of the patients who have managed to survive the SARS infection, have ongoing medical problems. Most of them have not completely recovered, and it is questionable whether or not they will end up with chronic breathing difficulties, etc. SARS, and the powerful immuno-suppressants, and anti- inflammatories used to treat it, are devastating to the entire body. Those in our ICU are on experimental treatments I have never heard of. In fact, I will try to find out what the current treatment protocol is, and report it to all of you as soon as I can. It might make for fascinating reading.

SARS is very frightening, especially to me, and my colleagues. My hospital has been gravely injured by the implications of SARS 2. We will lose a lot of staff. Some because they have become very ill, other because they feel betrayed by the SARS decision makers, who put politics ahead of the lives and safety of our staff.

Our hospital has been labelled "The SARS Hospital" in Toronto, by the press, and the community.

Our hospital has been closed to the public since May 23rd, and it will probably take another month to gradually re-open services. The emergency department where I work will be the last to open, when we are prepared to accept patients again.

Our reputation has been gravely injured. There will likely be a public inquiry, partially stemming from the two emergency nurses who went to the press to tell them that officials didn't heed the warnings of the nurses. There will likely be class action lawsuits, considering how many people have died or lost family members to this.

Anyhow, that's about it for now. I have created my own website. It's still under construction, but if you would like to see it, here's the address:

http://www.webspawner.com/users/christinegaspar/index.html

Christine