The Scientists' Open Letter on Aging Research is now truly open to the public:
To whom it may concern,Aging has been slowed and healthy lifespan prolonged in many disparate animal models (C. elegans, Drosophila, Ames dwarf mice, etc.). Thus, assuming there are common fundamental mechanisms, it should also be possible to slow aging in humans.
Greater knowledge about aging should bring better management of the debilitating pathologies associated with aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Therapies targeted at the fundamental mechanisms of aging will be instrumental in counteracting these age-related pathologies.
Therefore, this letter is a call to action for greater funding and research into both the underlying mechanisms of aging and methods for its postponement. Such research may yield dividends far greater than equal efforts to combat the age-related diseases themselves. As the mechanisms of aging are increasingly understood, increasingly effective interventions can be developed that will help prolong the healthy and productive lifespans of a great many people.
The letter presently has 54 signatories, including a number of respected scientists that regular readers will recognize from news and research of the past few years.
You might recognize the same hand at work here as for the Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics, and you'd be right. Kudos to Bruce Klein and the Immortality Institute volunteers for getting this on the road - may more signatures be forthcoming as pro-healthy life extension advocacy makes further inroads.
Technorati tags: advocacy, anti-aging