Cryonic Suspension

"Rules are for Fools", zei Johnny Rotten van de Sex Pistols.
Tja, het zou goed zijn als regels gebruikt werden om de wereld soepeler te laten draaien, maar daar ziet het voorlopig niet naar uit. Het onderstaande bericht van Ben best, directeur van het Cryonics Institute, geeft aan dat het voor cryonisten in Europa de hoogste tijd wordt iets in eigen land te gaan opzetten. Helaas gelden daar weer andere regels die de vooruitzichten van Cryonisten er niet beter opmaken. We blijven voorlopig van de Amerikanen afhankelijk.

Last Thursday, May 29, two CI-Members deanimated
on the same day. CI-88 was in Ohio and CI-89 was
in Switzerland. CI-88 was driven from Ohio, perfused
and was in the cooling box within 10 hours after
deanimation -- and has just been placed in liquid nitrogen.
CI-89 will be arriving in Michigan tomorrow afternoon
for perfusion.

The Swiss patient was shipped through Frankfurt, Germany,
where there is a direct flight to Detroit and we have
an enthusiastically co-operative funeral director.
Overseas patients already faced terrible issues with delay,
but since our Australian patient (CI-87) the regulations
have gotten worse. Before the new regulations we were
in a position to receive CI-89 on Saturday. But the
new regulations (US regulations) now require approval
of the State Department and Health Department before
shipping, and there is a narrow window every day
when it is business hours both in Europe and in the
USA where officials can speak to each other. The
American Consulate will no longer accepted a FAXed
Death Certificate, which made for problems quickly
getting the original from Switzerland to Frankfurt.
There was additional delay in this case because
the cause of death written on the death certificate
was "natural causes" and American standards require
more precision.

I am told that these new regulations are not specific
to cryonics, but apply to all shipment of human remains
into the United States. But cryonics is an added
complication. With these new regulations we will be lucky
when and if we can get European patients within two days
of deanimation in the future.

-- Ben Best