|
New Public Policy &
Aging Report Highlights Facts and Fiction About Anti-aging
Medicine
Provided by The Gerontological Society of America
Can the aging process be decelerated or reversed and,
if so, should it be? This scientific and moral quandary
is investigated in detail in the Spring 2004 issue of
the Public Policy & Aging Report, the quarterly
publication of the National Academy on an Aging Society.
This installment of PP&AR includes 6 articles that
address the scientific debates, social consequences,
and ethical issues associated with the possible emergence
of a "long-lived" society.
Case Western Reserve University Professor Robert Binstock
begins the issue with an overview of the anti-aging
medicine debate as it has played out in recent years
- remarking on issues that would emerge in a society
populated by the "prolonged old." Eminent
biogerontologist Leonard Hayflick, of the University
of California, San Francisco, shares the front page
spotlight with Binstock by arguing that the key to longevity
is not so much a matter of reversing the aging process,
but rather confronting the diseases that are associated
with - but separate from - fundamental aging.
The publication also features historian Carole Haber
of the University of Delaware. She discusses the history
of the search for the fountain of youth and documents
how far back go concerns centered on the costs to support
a frail older population. Case Western Reserve University's
Eric Juengst and Roselle Ponsaran speak to the role
of prevention in life prolongation, while Thomas Johnson
of the University of Colorado at Boulder references
genetic manipulation experiments on lower life forms,
which might lead to increases in human life expectancy.
Finally, ethicist Steven Post of Case Western Reserve
University urges us to pursue anti-aging agendas in
order to "invent a long-lived society in which
we can retain our capacities more fully until death."
This publication is the first in a series of summer
events designed to confront the hope and hype of anti-aging
medicine. On June 23, The American Federation for Aging
Research and The Gerontological Society of America are
co-hosting a press briefing in New York City to coincide
with the release of special sections in the June and
July issues of The Journal of Gerontology: Biological
Sciences. This month's The Gerontologist also features
an article - based on research funded by the National
Institute on Aging and The National Genome Research
Institute - titled "Anti-aging Medicine: Can Consumers
Be Better Protected?"
A copy of this issue of PP&AR can be obtained at:
http://www.agingsociety.org/.
###
The National
Academy on an Aging Society is the policy institute
of The Gerontological
Society of America (GSA), the oldest and largest
national multidisciplinary scientific organization devoted
to the advancement of gerontological research. Founded
in 1945, GSA's membership includes some 5,000+ researchers,
educators, practitioners, and other professionals in
the field of aging. The Society's principal missions
are to promote research and education in aging and to
encourage the dissemination of research results to other
scientists, decision makers, and practitioners.
Posted on June 21, 2004
|
