The Longevity Dividend Message
Via EurekAlert!, advocacy from those who believe that engineering metabolism to slow the accumulation of age-related damage is the only way ahead: "The traditional medical approach of attacking individual diseases -- cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease -- will soon become less effective if we do not determine how all of these diseases either interact or share common mechanisms with aging ... all living things, including humans, possess biochemical mechanisms that influence how quickly we age and, through dietary intervention or genetic alteration, it is possible to extend lifespan to postpone aging-related processes and diseases. ... We believe that the potential benefits of slowing aging processes have been underrecognized by most of the scientific community. We call on the health-research decision-makers to allocate substantial resources to support and develop practical interventions that slow aging in people." Meanwhile, initiatives to raise funding to develop the means to repair - rather than just slow - the damage of aging continue. I believe those initiatives to be the superior path forward, as they seem likely to be less complex, less costly, and more effective.
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/uoia-ess070708.php