Still the Knee-Jerk Opposition

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

(From the Palm Beach Post). While advocates are generating wider support for healthy life extension research, all too many people still knee-jerk in opposition to the idea: "Humans instinctively strive for longer life. Doctors and scientists who make medical breakthroughs are heroes. ... But what happens when science messes with one of nature's fundamentals: that the older generation will die off to make way for the younger generation? ... life as designed by modern medicine is bound to come into serious conflict with life as designed by nature. If future generations are going to have a right to life, those who already have life will have to recognize an obligation to die." Aging is just as much one of "nature's fundamentals" as anthrax, living in caves, and dying, parasite- and disease-ridden, in your 20s. I look forward to seeing a follow-up article to advocate these wonderful, natural concepts.

Link: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/05/18/a16a_versteegcol_0518.html