The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66405

Eric T. Juengst, PhD, Robert H. Binstock, PhD, Maxwell H. Mehlman, JD, and Stephen G. Post, PhD. Department of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106

Stimulated and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the scientific community is pursuing the development of radical anti-aging interventions. In 1999, NIH convened a working group of over 50 scientists to plan a program for applying to humans the implications of caloric restriction experiments with animals. The group produced a substantial research agenda, including the goals of slowing fundamental processes of aging and extending maximum life span. In line with this agenda, NIH-funded scientists are now working on the development of pills that could mimic the anti-aging effects of dietary caloric restriction. One of them estimates that success in this effort could lead to a 40 percent increase in both average life expectancy and maximum life span (with an occasional individual reaching age 140). The moral, ethical, and social implications of such achievements are enormous, and far more profound than the implications of cloning and stem cell research. Radical changes would take place in virtually every social institution. Yet, to date, the potential consequences of effective anti-aging interventions have been discussed rarely, and even then in venues that do not reach a wide public. NIH has a responsibility to help society be aware of the possible ramifications of the anti-aging research for which it has been providing its cachet and public funds. It should take the lead in developing a sustained, widespread program of dialogues that will engage both the biomedical community and the larger public in deliberate and far-sighted discussions of these issues.

Learning Objectives:

Participants in this session will acquire information regarding the radical anti-aging intervention aspirations currently encouraged through NIH-funded research. As a result of this session, participants will be able to engage in thinking and dialogue about the moral, ethical, and societal implications of radical anti-aging interventions. At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) will be able to: (
• identify three different models of anti-aging interventions that are being pursued by scientists; (
• recognize some of the moral, ethical, and societal implications of successful achievement of anti-aging interventions; (
• undertake analyses of these implications and disseminate their thoughts about them.

Keywords: Aging, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.