Aging experts
cautioned that if scientists succeed in developing therapies to extend
human lifespan by decades -- as some researchers currently are attempting
-- the event could have profound implications for society.
Some experts
at work in the area of slowing or stopping aging suggest human lifespan
could be increased by up to 40 percent. One researcher said anti-aging
drugs or therapies could allow women to reach an average lifespan of 112
years.
If such breakthroughs
occur, "probably every social institute we know will be radically changed,"
Robert Binstock, professor of aging, health and society at Case Western
University, told United Press International.
"We ought to
be think ahead about this and consider how much we want to encourage the
anti-aging research," said Binstock, who along with several of his colleagues
wrote an article about the need for a public discussion about this topic
in the Feb. 28 issue of Science.
"Our main point
is we haven't even begun to think about this very much," he said. "We ought
to get a better understanding of what potentially is going on."
If there are
tens of millions of people ages 85-112 who are healthy, "the implications
could be far more serious than stem cells or cloning," Binstock said.
"Serious ethical
issues would arise if anti-aging interventions were not universally available,
but were distributed in response to status (economic, social, or political),
merit, nationality, or other criteria," Binstock's team writes in the journal.
On the other hand, they said, "If access to anti-aging interventions were
unlimited, radical societal changes would take place in virtually every
social institution."
There also could
be "problems of overpopulation, which could have worldwide implications
ecologically," Binstock said. "In terms of public policy, we certainly
would find it very difficult to have anything like the programs (such as
social security) we have now," he added.
Some researchers
have predicted significant advances in anti-aging therapies could arrive
as soon as 10 years from now, Binstock's group said, so it might be prudent
for the U.S. National Institutes of Health to lead a public debate on the
potential ramifications of extending lifespan.
However, Huber
Warner, associate director of the biology of aging program at NIH's National
Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Md., said the prospect of extending lifespan
is not imminent.
"I don't see
anything on the horizon that all of a sudden we're going to start living
50 years longer due to some intervention," Warner told UPI. "The average
life span is ... only increasing at the realm of a year per 20 years,"
he said.
Binstock's team
writes in the journal that NIH is funding scientists who are trying to
develop drugs to slow the aging process -- something that Warner said is
misleading. Scientists are just beginning to understand the aging process,
he said.
"We're first
trying to figure out how it works," Warner said, noting the NIA is "funding
a lot of research on fruit flies, worms, mice, yeast. The potential might
be there to develop pills but we're not close at the moment," he commented.
"We're still just learning what genes and biochemical processes are that
are related to longevity."
He added, "The
hope is that we will then use that information to figure out what might
be regulating longevity in people but that's still in the developing stage."
Regarding whether
NIH should hold a public forum on the implications of extending lifespan,
Warner explained the mandate of the agency is to improve healthcare, which
will lead indirectly to improved survival, so they are aware of the impact
of increasing lifespan.
"It is an issue
for society to debate, but it's no more the responsibility for the National
Institute on Aging to do it as it is for any of the institutes of NIH to
do it," he said.
Binstock, however,
noted even if all cancers were miraculously cured, the average lifespan
would only be increased by about two years. That is a small impact compared
to what is predicted for anti-aging therapies, he said.
"Since the (NIH)
is using public funds to do (aging research) they have a responsibility
to let the public know what the implications of this are," he said.
--
Copyright 2003 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
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