1. Fightaging notes that FDA regulation makes it impossible to meet demand or to try to develop and offer meaningful products. The US and the FDA then reach out internationally to try to block the black market in medical progress (through stem cell and other treatments for people with otherwise terminal diseases.
Four people were indicted for distributed stem cells and other biological products without federal Food and Drug Administration approval, and for unapproved treatments of cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s Disease. … Court records unsealed Wednesday show that the scheme made more than $1.5 million in sales between January 2007 and April 2010, from procedures Morales performed in Mexico on patients he met in the United States.
So the lesson is if you are going to provide non-FDA approved treatments internationally then you should not harvest any stem cells or use any US sources. There also needs to be other steps taken to fully internationalize the service and avoid money transfers in US territory.
2. Exceptional longevity is associated with decreased reproduction
We assessed this tradeoff (increased longevity with reduced fertility) in a cohort of genetically and socially homogenous Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians (average age ~100 years). As compared with an Ashkenazi cohort without exceptional longevity, our centenarians had fewer children (2.01 vs 2.53), were older at first childbirth (28.0 vs 25.6), and at last childbirth (32.4 vs 30.3). The smaller number of children was observed for male and female centenarians alike. The lower number of children in both genders together with the pattern of delayed reproductive maturity is suggestive of constitutional factors that might enhance human life span at the expense of reduced reproductive ability.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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