Defies belief, don't it?
jm
On 8 Feb 2001, at 10:18, Max More wrote:
Forwarded with permission. This is interesting in the context of our
discussion about keeping track of anti-extropic public figures and
events. I'm building up a "little black book". :-) One project I
have in mind is to systematically track these folks and have a
process in place for responding to them.
Max
Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 21:19:18 -0800
To: la-grg@wildwebservices.com
From: "L. Stephen Coles, M.D., Ph.D." <scoles@grg.org>
Subject: [la-grg] Alliance for Aging Research Political Manifesto
-- To Members and Friends of the Gerontology Research Group:
The Alliance for Aging Research of Washington, D.C. has just
published
a two-page manifesto in the latest issue of JAAM [*]. Visit their
website at
url"h
ttp://www.agingresearch.
and check out their superlative Scientific Advisory Board. Seveal
members were
members of the Wasington, D.C. Gerontology Research Group in 1995-6.
The article begins with three sad quotations...
... Audrey Chapman, Director of Science and Human Rights at
the AAAS said
in US News and World Report, "It is evil to focus energy on trying to
live longer than
80 years when many poor people now don't live past age 40."
The Rev. Richard J. Neuhaus of the Institute of Religion and
Public Life criticized
what he called "the search for immortality as a pagan and sub-
Christian quest driven
by the essentially amoral and mindless dynamic of the technological
imperative joined
to an ignoble fear of death."
Dr. Daniel Callahan, Biomedical Ethicist at the Hasting
Center in New York said,
in The New England Journal of Medicine, "We can't ban this
[longevity] research, but
we can make it socially despicable -- like nuclear testing, we can
decide that we don't
want to do it. People at age 65 have lived long enough to experience
the typical range
of human possibilities and aspirations: to work, to learn, to love,
to procreate, and to
see one's children grow up and become independent adults. No special
effort should
be made to help them live longer. In fact, the NIH budget for cancer
research should be
reduced."
We of the LA-GRG believe that we are not only justified but
are obligated to do
whatever we can to extend, not shorten, human life. We cannot afford
to dismiss these
apologists as harmless. Their titles give them ready access to the
media, and they are
capable of stirring irrational fear in society at large (read
Congress). Therefore, they
do pose a threat to the pursuit of medical knowledge that will help
millions of people,
including ourselves, live healthy, vital lives, postponing
devastating and costly diseases
like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Cancer, and Heart Disease, within the
period of our own
lifetimes.
Best regards,
Steve Coles
_____________
* "Political Issue -- Taking Sides in the Great Longevity Debate:
Critics of Aging
Research Are Missing the Point," JAAM, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 447-8
(Winter 2000).
L. Stephen Coles, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Founder
Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group
Uurl"http://www.grg.org --
LA-GRG Mailing Li
John Marlow
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:37 MDT