CRYONICS AND THE ALCOR LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION

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                                  October 5, 1990

                         Cryonics - Suspension by Freezing

                   CRYONICS AND THE ALCOR LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION

            CRYONIC  SUSPENSION is an experimental procedure whereby
       patients who can no longer be kept alive with today's  medical
       abilities are preserved  at  low temperatures for treatment in the
       future.

            Although this procedure is not yet reversible, it is based on
       the expectation that medical technology of the future will be able
       to  cure today's diseases, reverse the effects of aging, and repair
       any additional injury caused  by  the freezing process.

            That in future time, superior technology could then rejuvenate
       suspended patients to enjoy health and youth indefinitely.

            The  field which deals with this procedure is called CRYONICS.
       (This should not be confused with "cryogenics," which is the branch
       of physics which studies very low temperatures.)

            Cryonics is not a cult or a religion of any kind.   The people
       involved in cryonics hold widely varying views on religion,
       politics, and social issues.   Their occupations include scientists,
       physicians, computer  programmers, business owners, teachers,
       librarians, and secretaries.   However, they all agree that being
       alive is a wonderful thing and that this technology may help them
       stay that way.

            Cryonics might better be seen as a experimental medical
       technology.  This label may seem strange at first,  since many
       people are under the mistaken impression that cryonics patients are
       dead.

            Cryonics is not a new way of storing dead bodies.  It is a new
       way of  saving lives.  Cryonicists refer to these frozen people as
       PATIENTS , because we firmly believe that they are, in some manner,
       still alive.

            People really are being frozen; it is no longer science
       fiction.  Approximately 50 persons have been frozen since the first
       cryonic suspension in 1967.   About 300 other people have made the
       financial and legal arrangements to be suspended in case they should
       become terminally ill or injured.

            However, any stories you may read about frozen people being
       revived are definitely science fiction.   No human has ever been
       thawed out and revived, and it will be a long time before this
       happens.  Medical technology has not yet advanced to the  point
       where cryonic suspension is reversible; today's deadly illnesses and

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       injuries are not yet curable; and even if these things had been
       accomplished, there is no point in reviving anyone until the aging
       process is fully under control.  No one wants to be reawakened as an
       aged, infirm person.

            Cryonics is not yet accepted as a legitimate life-saving
       procedure by today's medical authorities.   With our current
       technology we cannot prove that a frozen human can be repaired and
       revived (although a great deal of research suggests that this will
       be possible in the future).

            Unfortunately, this situation creates numerous medical, legal,
       and even political difficulties.

            For instance, if a patient were to be suspended while he was
       legally alive,  someone might claim that the suspension process
       itself had killed that patient, creating the possibility of criminal
       or  civil charges against the suspension team.

            Therefore, current cryonics practice is to suspend dying
       patients as soon as possible after cardiac arrest (stopping of the
       heart) and declaration of "legal death."

            This course of action can be seen as reasonable once one
       realizes that "legal death" is not the same as "biological death."

            A physician declares legal death when a patient's condition
       cannot be repaired with current medical knowledge and techniques.

            However, the process of deterioration which we call "dying" is
       not a sudden happening.  It is much more like slipping into an ever
       deepening coma.

            Even several hours after declaration of death, most of the
       cells in the body (including those in the brain) are still
       individually alive and ready to regain function.

            As late as the 1940's, people who stopped breathing because of
       heart attacks or drowning were routinely declared dead.

            Today thousands of people have survived heart attacks and other
       conditions which would have been fatal 40 years ago.  Children have
       survived over an hour of "drowning" in cold water.

            Were those heart attack and drowning victims really dead forty
       years ago, but nature has changed the rules today?

            Of course not; those people were still alive -- doctors just
       did not know what to do about it.  In the same way, most people who
       are declared dead TODAY would be called "alive" by  doctors of the
       future.  With that prospect in mind, we think these patients should
       be considered "alive" NOW, and we should do something to KEEP them
       that way.

            Even  within the next 10-15 years, you are likely to be amazed
       by the amount of progress in recovering patients from strokes, heart
       attacks, and lack of oxygen to the brain.

            Ultimately, it should be possible to recover patients as long

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       as basic brain structure remains intact (several hours past the
       point at which today's doctors give up).  In  the next century, the
       medical knowledge of the 1980's will seem as primitive as the
       medical understandings of one hundred years ago seem to us.

            Cryonic suspension itself will cure nothing, but it buys time
       for the patient, keeping his body virtually unchanged until a future
       when his frozen condition may be considered only an extremely deep
       coma.

            Even now there is solid evidence that cooling the human body to
       liquid nitrogen temperature (-320o F), with the use of techniques to
       reduce freezing injury, can preserve the fine structure of the brain
       indefinitely.

            There is no guarantee that cryonic suspension will ever allow
       for future revival.  We do not know enough to state absolutely that
       this procedure is workable.   However, the case for the possible
       future revival of suspended patients grows stronger all of the time.

            One recent argument in favor of future repair and revival of
       suspended patients was provided by K. Eric Drexler in his
       fascinating book, ENGINES OF CREATION (Doubleday, 1986).

            This book details the beginnings of the new field of
       "nanotechnology" (also called "molecular engineering").

            Nanotechnology is the next step smaller than micro-technology,
       and it will create industries which will operate by working with
       atoms and molecules one at a time.  Among other astounding
       developments, this will lead to computers and cell repair machines
       one thousand times smaller than a human cell.

            Such devices could repair any disease or injury (including that
       from freezing) by working directly on the cells themselves.

            It must be pointed out that cryonicists are not people with
       some fixation on cold temperatures.   None of us want to be frozen.
       We are simply people who like being alive, and who want to see the
       future and all of its wonders.  For us, cryonics provides a safety
       net, a last-ditch attempt at life-saving which may give us the
       chance to see that future.

            Our cryonics organization,  Alcor Life Extension Foundation
       ("Alcor"),  is a California not-for-profit corporation, registered
       with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt scientific
       organization.

            Alcor has a fully equipped and operational research laboratory,
       operating room, and patient storage facility in Riverside,
       California.

            Alcor was formed as a mutual aid society, where the members are
       committed to helping each other.  All Alcor board members,
       officials, and  suspension team personnel are required  to be full
       suspension members.   We do not want a situation which could pit
       "Alcor" against "the members."  Alcor IS its members.

           All decisions on the safety of the patients and stability of the

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       organization are made with the knowledge that they will affect
       everyone in the organization.

            If you would like further information, you may order the
       following publications (among others) from Alcor:

       ALCOR:  THRESHOLD  TO  TOMORROW
       (introductory booklet) FREE for 1st copy.
       Extra copies $5.00 each.

       THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CRYONICS
       (selected reprints) $10.00.

       SIGNING UP MADE SIMPLE
       (How to provide the legal and financial arrangements for cryonic
       suspension, with filled-out sample forms.) $12.00.

       Subscription to CRYONICS magazine
       at $25.00 per  year (12 issues).
       Fascinating articles and discussion on the current state of
       cryonics, plus science updates.

           Please send check or money order; no cash over $1.00 please.
           Phone toll-free  to use Visa or MasterCard.   Make all checks
              payable to Alcor Life Extension Foundation and mail to:

                          Alcor Life Extension Foundation
                               12327 Doherty Street,
                            Riverside, California 92503
                              Telephone 800-367-2228.


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