Cheating Death

<v Albert Rosenfeld>This is something we thought was inevitable, forever aging. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Two things you can't do anything about death and taxes. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Well, I don't know that we'll ever be able to do anything about taxes. <v Albert Rosenfeld>But there are some people who are beginning to think we can do something about death, you <v Albert Rosenfeld>know, like postpone it. <v Speaker>You make me feel so young. <v Speaker>You make me feel so spring has sprung. <v Speaker>And every time I see you grin, I'm such a happy individual. <v woman>Well, it sounds very bizarre now, but if there was a pill <v woman>that um, that everybody could live longer and feel better <v woman>while they're living longer, then I think you could just adjust to that notion. <v woman>I would have no trouble adjusting. <v Speaker>Just like a couple of tots. <v narrator>It's a question for our time. Something to consider now.

<v narrator>A choice may be right around the corner. <v narrator>As science unlocks the mysteries of aging and seeks out an antidote to death, the <v narrator>prospect of everlasting earthly life becomes more possible. <v narrator>Will we decide, after all, to cheat death? <v hairdresser>Yeah, I think probably being in the type of business I am, I would say my first reaction <v hairdresser>would be fine if you can keep me living longer. <v hairdresser>But I want to look good. <v hairdresser>I want to feel good. I want to be active during those years. <v narrator>The impulse to live and live long will not be denied. <v narrator>And with gusto, our generation has entered the race against old age, hoping that <v narrator>some new answers may be the right ones. <v narrator>And when reality falters, illusion will do. <v woman>It makes you look younger. It makes you feel younger. <v woman>I think I was at my peak when I was 40 years old, the way I felt and the way <v woman>I looked. And that's what I wanted to achieve when I had a facelift. <v woman>40. [Interviewer: Did that work?] Yes it did.

<v woman>It did. <v narrator>Magic elixirs have eluded us and all else? <v narrator>Maybe just a snare and a delusion. <v narrator>But suddenly, in a variety of laboratories from a handful of well-respected scientists, <v narrator>the world's oldest fantasy show signs of becoming a reality. <v narrator>Dr. Richard Cutler. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>There's something that being on the verge of a of a discovery that humanity <v Dr. Richard Cutler>has been looking and searching for thousands of years. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>I think it just makes it fascinating and it keeps you going around the clock. <v narrator>Dr. Donner Denckla. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>It's really chemical engineering. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Once you have identified a hormone from the territory to make a blocker to it, it's <v M.D. Donner Denckla>no big deal. This is all within the realm of possibility. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>It's been done before. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>No new principles involved. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>It's easy. <v narrator>Easy. Well, it's simpler than they thought. <v narrator>They say the subject is the aging process. <v narrator>The object is to define it, delay it. <v narrator>Maybe even to halt it. Former Life and Saturday Review science writer Albert

<v narrator>Rosenfeld. <v Albert Rosenfeld>There are some very interesting ideas. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Good research. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Very convincing research that suggests to me that we're going to be able to do something <v Albert Rosenfeld>about the aging process, like maybe abolish it to a great extent. <v narrator>These scientists think the answers are within grasp, but exactly where those answers <v narrator>lie is up for grabs. <v narrator>Working with common bred mold, University of Wisconsin molecular biologist Kenneth <v narrator>Munkres puts his faith in what's called the super gene theory. <v narrator>Some newly discovered genes that act as a repair and maintenance shop for the body's <v narrator>cells. <v Kenneth Munkres>The most amazing thing that has come from this work is that there are a large <v Kenneth Munkres>number of genes, but they're all on one of the seven chromosomes in a <v Kenneth Munkres>group we call this super gene cluster. <v Kenneth Munkres>It's a good feeling <v Kenneth Munkres>to make discoveries that you think are important.

<v Kenneth Munkres>To find other people on the field, such as Dick Cutler <v Kenneth Munkres>making analogous discoveries, working with other organisms. <v narrator>At the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Dr. Richard Cutler agrees with Munkres <v narrator>that certain enzymes play an important part in prolonging lives. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>The processes that we still seem to be involved in Gurry life span seem to be rather <v Dr. Richard Cutler>simple. It's something that one could manipulate without complex genetic <v Dr. Richard Cutler>engineering or completely rebuilding the body. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>It's things like increasing the concentration of enzymes or a few simple <v Dr. Richard Cutler>amino acids, antioxidants. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>So it might be not too complicated to substantially increase lifespan. <v narrator>Using a totally different approach, bright, intense, Harvard educated M.D. <v narrator>Donner Denckla says flatly that he has stopped aging cold. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>In the instances in my own research, when we take out pituitary, <v M.D. Donner Denckla>which we suspect contains a deleterious hormone, the animals

<v M.D. Donner Denckla>in certain major bodily functions simply show <v M.D. Donner Denckla>no age associated decline. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>There is no change at all with it. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Now, whether we can do this in man, whether we can do it in enough different <v M.D. Donner Denckla>bodily functions in man to maintain truly <v M.D. Donner Denckla>perfect health or close to perfect health or excellent health, whatever you want <v M.D. Donner Denckla>to view it, we don't know. <v narrator>Denckla says that with adequate funding, he could develop an antidote to what he calls, <v narrator>DECO, a kind of death hormone secreted by the pituitary to Denker. <v narrator>The pituitary is the center of the aging process to most other researchers. <v narrator>However, aging is centered in the individual cells. <v narrator>Longevity research writer and author Albert Rosenfeld agrees. <v narrator>There is a sequence of events leading to death. <v narrator>It's a kind of aging clock, but the question and controversy is where is <v narrator>that clock?

<v Albert Rosenfeld>There are two major theories here. <v Albert Rosenfeld>One is, is that the clock is in the brain and the pituitary and hypothalamus <v Albert Rosenfeld>region and that it's hormonal in nature. <v Albert Rosenfeld>And the other is that it resides in the DNA and the genetic material <v Albert Rosenfeld>in each cell. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Now, the two are not incompatible. <v Albert Rosenfeld>I happen to think they both may be right. <v Albert Rosenfeld>I think if you and I were space engineers designing <v Albert Rosenfeld>a some vehicle that we wanted to have destroyed at a given <v Albert Rosenfeld>time, we would build in some redundant system. <v Albert Rosenfeld>So if one didn't work, the other would some sort of self-destruct <v Albert Rosenfeld>system. And there's no reason to think that the creator of these organisms was <v Albert Rosenfeld>any less clever than the people at NASA. <v Albert Rosenfeld>But it's also hard to grasp. <v Albert Rosenfeld>It's just very hard to grasp because it goes so deeply against <v Albert Rosenfeld>everything that we based our lives on. <v hairdresser>I didn't know this. There's a certain amount of security in knowing that there's a

<v hairdresser>finite, or a limited amount of time because it tends to be an incentive to make you do <v hairdresser>things. <v narrator>If science sees eternal youth and everlasting vigor as possible and simpler to <v narrator>arrive at than imagined. Will we in this century now after <v narrator>heart transplants and test tube babies herald the first non aging humans? <v narrator>And will we have gone too far, interfered with some grand plan? <v narrator>Marquette University philosopher Mary Rousseau. <v Mary Rousseau>Think the first thing I'd say is that I don't see anything morally wrong with that basic <v Mary Rousseau>idea. We can reverse the aging process. <v Mary Rousseau>Why not? <v Mary Rousseau>There'd be no moral reasons against it that I can think of. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Well, the old idea that you're tampering with God's work or with nature, <v Albert Rosenfeld>and my response to that is that you point to me anything we do where we do <v Albert Rosenfeld>not tamper with nature or God's work. <v narrator>But what about the pastoral admonition to live each day as though it were your last?

<v narrator>Would religion, as we know it, be out of business? <v Mary Rousseau>I would think so, at least for the biblical religions, for <v Mary Rousseau>Christianity and Judaism. <v Mary Rousseau>Death is looked upon as a punishment for sin and something <v Mary Rousseau>that we need to be saved from. <v Mary Rousseau>And for Christians at least to be saved from death through the resurrection <v Mary Rousseau>of Christ is the very heart of our religious belief. <v Mary Rousseau>So if we didn't have the fact of death and didn't have a need to be redeemed from it, <v Mary Rousseau>aren't our religious ideas would certainly change. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>So it really influences our life and our behavior and our <v Dr. Richard Cutler>philosophy and the whole works. It's a deeply embedded in our whole culture. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>Is our- is our lifespan, period of growth, short period of good health <v Dr. Richard Cutler>and a long period of declining health. <v Mary Rousseau>The fact that we now must expect

<v Mary Rousseau>to die after a relatively short lifespan. <v Mary Rousseau>The older I get, the shorter it seems. <v Mary Rousseau>I think it forces us into a kind of moral seriousness that we might not have otherwise. <v Mary Rousseau>It gives us a sense that we ought to accomplish <v Mary Rousseau>something definite with our lives. <v Mary Rousseau>And the time span for doing that becomes <v Mary Rousseau>important in deciding what the accomplishment could realistically be. <v Mary Rousseau>Maybe if we could expect to live indefinitely, we would have a more happy <v Mary Rousseau>go lucky, carefree attitude. <v Mary Rousseau>Not think of our lives as a definite project with a beginning, and a middle and an end. <v narrator>Currently, funds earmarked for aging research are generally designed to study <v narrator>and to contribute to the well-being of the elderly, not to engage in anything as sweeping <v narrator>as everlasting youth.

<v Albert Rosenfeld>Well, I think there is just in the general budget cutting overall <v Albert Rosenfeld>there's some budget cutting and biomedical research. <v Albert Rosenfeld>And actually biomedical research is suffering less than most, though <v Albert Rosenfeld>what happens is it's hard to bring new young people into the field <v Albert Rosenfeld>when you don't have money. I think people tend to stay with a very safe things <v Albert Rosenfeld>so that daring or innovative concepts don't get the hearing <v Albert Rosenfeld>that they might otherwise. <v narrator>Faced with present problems in the Social Security system, Washington might not applaud <v narrator>an increase of 50 to 100 years in lifespan. <v narrator>Denckla, frustrated and bitter that his funds were not renewed, thinks that he may be too <v narrator>close to an answer for Washington's comfort. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Well, I think we could have with. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Essentially adequate financing, which is really relatively modest <v M.D. Donner Denckla>compared to what's being currently spent largely, in my opinion, wastefully. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>We could probably have an animal antidote to DECO in five to seven years.

<v M.D. Donner Denckla>I don't when it would happen to human- have adequate testing for humans. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>I don't know. <v Albert Rosenfeld>I would love to see some support given to W. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Donner Denckla and his research in the so-called aging <v Albert Rosenfeld>hormone death hormone. <v Albert Rosenfeld>For two reasons. One is that he now has hardly any support <v Albert Rosenfeld>and needs it badly. But the major the second and major reason would be because <v Albert Rosenfeld>I think that he has the best chance of anyone of coming <v Albert Rosenfeld>up with an answer to the aging process and an answer <v Albert Rosenfeld>on which one can act and do something about within the not <v Albert Rosenfeld>too far off future. If he turns out to be right. <v narrator>And what if Denckla is right and finds what he calls that magic bullet <v narrator>to block the death hormone, how would it work? <v M.D. Donner Denckla>I think that what you would see is <v M.D. Donner Denckla>a large number of bodily systems.

<v M.D. Donner Denckla>There would be no aging. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>For example, in terms of athletics, we've tested animals for maximum aerobic <v M.D. Donner Denckla>capacity, there's no change in max aerobic capacity. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Therefore, you would maintain completely constant <v M.D. Donner Denckla>physical prowess. Let's say you started the program. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>The simplest case at 21, you would <v M.D. Donner Denckla>stop the aging in cycle of reaction time, <v M.D. Donner Denckla>maximum aerobic capacity. A large component of the immune system. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Certain changes in the brain which we've seen. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>You would stop a whole lot of these aging processes. <v narrator>Richard Cutler sees extended lifespan as a kind of stretching out process, <v narrator>somewhat like a rubber band. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>But my guess would be that if one is going to further extend <v Dr. Richard Cutler>lifespan along the same lines, it naturally evolved <v Dr. Richard Cutler>that you will have a longer period of development if you're going

<v Dr. Richard Cutler>to begin childhood. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>A longer period of maintenance of good health <v Dr. Richard Cutler>and also a company that would be a longer period of declining health. <v Albert Rosenfeld>One good possibility is that we could live out <v Albert Rosenfeld>our natural lifespans. Whatever that is, some people guess one hundred and 10, one <v Albert Rosenfeld>hundred and twenty in the best of health and then kind of go like the wonderful one horse <v Albert Rosenfeld>shea does. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Lot of people would settle for that because what they fear is not death, but the long <v Albert Rosenfeld>dying and being helpless, etc.. <v narrator>In a world void of the long dying and helplessness, personal relationships <v narrator>would also change, creating some sticky problems and some strange bedfellows. <v woman>Well, I guess if you could look younger and be as smart as you are when you're older.

<v woman>Wouldn't make any difference. <v woman>But aren't you going to mix up the different decades and change as people go <v woman>through in life? I mean, how can you even if you look 25 <v woman>and you're say hundred and two? <v woman>How are you going to relate to the real 25 year old? <v woman>That would be very confusing I would think. <v Mary Rousseau>I like to focus upon intimacy and friendship <v Mary Rousseau>and community as what gives human life its <v Mary Rousseau>human quality. So that if we achieve those <v Mary Rousseau>things, we're we're doing something worthwhile no matter what else we do. <v Mary Rousseau>And it seems to me that that's the kind of quality of life which could very <v Mary Rousseau>well adjust to a life that would go on forever and that life could <v Mary Rousseau>become even more precious and more meaningful to us <v Mary Rousseau>because it could last longer. <v hairdresser>What happens now? You kind of tend to get bored with one particular job,

<v hairdresser>a marriage, for instance, saying you're going to be married for your whole life, I mean a <v hairdresser>whole life. Now, you're talking about hundreds of years. <v narrator>Professionally and economically, what if this all comes to pass? <v narrator>Would we open up some kind of cosmic Pandora's box and free into <v narrator>an already chaotic world countless more problems to cope with? <v Michael Hudson>That's why people die. You can say naturally. <v Michael Hudson>Death was invented so that society would remain flexible and you wouldn't have <v Michael Hudson>the bottlenecks of old people blocking up jobs. <v narrator>Economist Michael Hudson has written extensively on how life extension <v narrator>would affect the economy.

<v Michael Hudson>The US government has done the studies of what problems these are likely <v Michael Hudson>to cause, and the studies have upset it so much that the general feeling <v Michael Hudson>in Washington is they're sorry they invented the kidney dialysis machine. <v Michael Hudson>It causes more problems than it's worth because the people who were, <v Michael Hudson>to use an example kept alive on the kidney dialysis machines for fifty <v Michael Hudson>thousand dollars a year, don't produce fifty thousand dollars worth of goods and <v Michael Hudson>services. And yet there is an obligation to support everybody on <v Michael Hudson>this machine who has the problem because you can't discriminate. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>If you have true life extension with full vigor, the beautiful thing about that is <v M.D. Donner Denckla>your memory will be intact. Memory starts to decline. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Thirty five seriously decline. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>I mean seriously. You can take another job. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>You can learn languages. You can learn another career. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Because in the way I look at life extension is your brain will be completely <v M.D. Donner Denckla>intact. You will not have a declining memory. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>So there's no the average person who has a certain joie de vivre, or joy

<v M.D. Donner Denckla>of life. He wants to be a chef then become a chef. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>He wants to be a biochemist, then become a biochemist. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>It's marvelous, this concept. <v Michael Hudson>How will you get new professors in universities, for instance, when there's already seven <v Michael Hudson>years in your tenured? Well, imagine 100 years. <v Michael Hudson>And the man still tenured, he's still teaching what people didn't want to hear one <v Michael Hudson>hundred years ago. And you can't get rid of them because you can't train them to be a <v Michael Hudson>machinist or something else, because a job has to do with someone's whole <v Michael Hudson>personality. And that's one thing to remain vigorous in your field. <v Michael Hudson>And it's another thing to learn a whole new field and have to begin all <v Michael Hudson>over again at the beginning. <v Albert Rosenfeld>If older people were no longer old in the usual <v Albert Rosenfeld>sense in terms of being decrepit but more vigorous and healthy and could continue <v Albert Rosenfeld>to be productive and take care of themselves, they would no longer need this medical <v Albert Rosenfeld>care and use up all those resources. <v Michael Hudson>It's very easy to say yes if we live longer. <v Michael Hudson>Everybody can be productive if everything works out right.

<v Michael Hudson>It's like saying if we had some ham we could have some ham and eggs if we had some eggs. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>I think medicine is at a crossroads. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>And either we support what I consider a true <v M.D. Donner Denckla>investigation into life extension, which is healthy life extension, <v M.D. Donner Denckla>or we go with a patchwork system. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>Sweden right now is running 25 percent <v M.D. Donner Denckla>of their GNP. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>For medical care, and it's completely socialized system. <v M.D. Donner Denckla>United States is running 10 percent of our gross national product <v M.D. Donner Denckla>is in medicine. <v narrator>But if it comes right down to it. Do we really want to live forever or nearly forever <v narrator>or 50 to 100 years longer than we do now? <v narrator>Would we finally go to the fountain of youth to drink what's been called the anti <v narrator>aging cocktails? <v woman 2>Sure. No question. <v woman 2>I'd do it.

<v woman 3>I think it's wonderful. I mean, if I wouldn't have to go to the plastic surgeons to have <v woman 3>all this done and it wouldn't have to go to the <v woman 3>doctor, for your rheumatism or things like that, I think <v woman 3>would be fantastic. I really would be the first in line for the bell. <v woman 3>I'd be elbowing my way up to the front of the line. <v man>Sure. <v man>I think it'd be pretty hard to find somebody to say no. <v woman 4>I would probably travel read. <v woman 4>Pamper myself like I'm doing now and just enjoying. <v woman 4>And not working as hard. <v Albert Rosenfeld>I don't like it so much immortality that people want. <v Albert Rosenfeld>Even those that. But a sense of having things more open ended <v Albert Rosenfeld>someone's if- so that you can live as sort of as long as you enjoy living

<v Albert Rosenfeld>and then be able to turn it off magically <v Albert Rosenfeld>somehow. <v woman>We're crazy mortals. We want everything we can't have, you know? <v woman>And I think there is a grand plan, some place that has it all figured out. <v woman>And you're supposed to kind of catch on to that at some period in your life. <v woman>And I'm still asking those questions. <v woman>I don't know if living 50 years longer would give me any more answers. <v woman>And it would depend very much on how good that life was. <v woman>I kind of like knowing I may have a limited time to do what I have to do. <v woman>I don't even know what that is yet. <v hairdresser>If you had all the time in the world. <v hairdresser>I wonder if it would be hard to commit to things, whether it be a person or a job or <v hairdresser>anything for a length of time. <v narrator>Isn't there something enviable about old age? <v narrator>Released from commitments and competition? <v Speaker>[Music plays]

<v narrator>Of course, none of this may come to pass this fountain of youth. <v narrator>This magic control over our destinies, the possibility of new questions like <v narrator>when is enough enough? <v narrator>Policymakers, faced with existing problems, may see to that, but still <v narrator>obeying a mandate to study aging, to stop cancer, to prevent <v narrator>the physical ravages of age. <v narrator>Researchers continue to travel down the route to immortality. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>I think it's coming. And so we ought to be prepared for it. <v Dr. Richard Cutler>Instead, what we are preparing for is a population <v Dr. Richard Cutler>that is more and more senile, but not preparing <v Dr. Richard Cutler>for the possibility that there might be certainly a few simple treatments <v Dr. Richard Cutler>or they might be able to undertake that will dramatically increase their lifespan by 50 <v Dr. Richard Cutler>years. But certainly I think that the

<v Dr. Richard Cutler>bottom line on this is that I think we owe it to ourselves to find out. <v Speaker>[Song Plays].