Having your head frozen for potential future resuscitation is a service that will be on offer to the public within 5-10 years, according to the UK’s stem cell bank. They tell us more below, Touchy subject perhaps for some but it’s happening like it or not.
Famously something Walt Disney did, having your head frozen when you die is thought to be a way of preserving enough of your personality, intellect and memories to be able to bring you fully back to life at some point in the future when technology is more advanced.
But this service has previously been within the reach of only the very rich, such as Disney, while less affluent people have missed the opportunity to do this when they die. And now, say StemProtect.co.uk, we are looking at a near future in which the service is available to everyone – for a small cost of course.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agriculture Research Service (ARS) National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) in Ft. Collins, CO, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. The Cryogenic Storage Vault currently operates more than 45 cryogenic tanks that hold animal germplasm, plant tissue culture, and seeds are stored at -196 °C (-321 °F) in liquid storage or to -193 C. (-315 °F) in vapor storage degrees centigrade (-321 °F). NCGRP is the largest agricultural genebank facility in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff includes 34 full-time USDA/ARS employees (7 of whom are Ph. D.–level scientists), plus 8 part-time and 16 student employees. The FY13 budget for the center is $4.7 million.The FY13 budget for the center is $4.7 million. For more information, see http://www.usda.gov. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.
Portable double walled vacuum insulated tanks such as “Little Maggie” is in a laboratory, holding liquid nitrogen used to begin the essential, safe cryogenic freezing process of samples that will be stored at -196 °C (-321 °F) in liquid storage and -193 C. (-315 °F) in vapor storage, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agriculture Research Service (ARS) National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP), in Ft. Collins, CO, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. NCGRP is the largest agricultural genebank facility in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff includes 34 full-time USDA/ARS employees (7 of whom are Ph.D. level-scientists), plus 8 part-time and 16 student employees. The FY13 budget for the center is $4.7 million. For more information about U.S. Agriculture, NCGRP, and GRIN see http://www.usda.gov, http://www.ars.usda.gov/Aboutus/docs.htm?docid=17892, http://www.ars-grin.gov/ USDA photo by Lance Cheung.
Mark Hall spokesperson for StemProtect.co.uk said: “We’re accustomed to making jokes about freezing heads when we die, and of course everyone knows Walt Disney did it – often that’s their only point of reference. But soon we could see this practice becoming commonplace because advances in technology have made it much more affordable.”
“And of course, while we’re not at the point yet where we can bring someone back to life from this procedure, we believe it’s just around the corner.”
StemProtect.co.uk agree that this does raise some weighty ethical questions, however: “We don’t yet know what the emotional impact would be of bringing someone back to life this way even when we are physically able to do it. That’s not a question for science but for us as human beings, and it’s a question we might not be able to answer until the first person is brought back to life after being frozen.”
The service will be offered at a cost of £5000 for 250 years. Which Mr Hall points out “That’s cheaper than some funerals”
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agriculture Research Service (ARS) National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) Cryogenic Storage Vault in Ft. Collins, CO, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. The Cryogenic Storage Vault currently operates more than 45 cryogenic tanks that hold animal germplasm, plant tissue culture, and seeds are stored at -196 °C (-321 °F) in liquid storage or to -193 C. (-315 °F) in vapor storage degrees centigrade (-321 °F). NCGRP is the largest agricultural genebank facility in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff includes 34 full-time USDA/ARS employees (7 of whom are Ph. D.–level scientists), plus 8 part-time and 16 student employees. The FY13 budget for the center is $4.7 million.The FY13 budget for the center is $4.7 million. For more information, see http://www.usda.gov. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.
(Left – right behind) Colorado State University (CSU) Dean Agricultural Sciences Dr. Craig Beyrouty and CSU President Dr. Anthony Frank and Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Northern Plains Area Director Dr. Larry Chandler stand with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Vilsack today as he spoke ov the national security importance of this center, and he announced a $9.8 million grant to a consortium of academic, industry such as Coolplanet Energy Systems and government organizations led by Colorado State University (CSU) and their partners to research using insect-killed trees in the Rockies as a sustainable feedstock for bioenergy, during a meeting with the staff and news media in the Cryogenic Storage Vault where 45-50 cryogenic tanks hold animal germplasm, plant tissue culture, and seeds are stored at less than -196 °C (-321 °F) in liquid storage or to -193 C. (-315 °F) in vapor storage degrees centigrade (-321 °F) visits of the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) in Ft. Collins, CO, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. NCGRP is the largest agricultural genebank facility in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by genebanks around the world: many international scientists travel to the NCGRP for research and training. The NCGRP staff conducts groundbreaking research to develop more efficient and effective means for preserving plant and animal germplasm, and for better understanding the genetic structure of these invaluable materials. The research findings, preservation techniques, and specialized technology developed by the NCGRP have been adopted by
Other ways of preserving vital tissue, such as stem cell banking, are now much more commonplace than ever before, and carry far fewer ethical problems. Unlike freezing a head, which is done to bring a dead individual back to life, the work StemProtect.co.uk do is aimed at preserving information about the body which can be used for medical purposes while the person is still alive.
Public surveys show that people are still not completely happy with the idea of having their heads frozen when they die, even if it does become something that’s affordable to them and realistically within their reach.
Johnny 37, from Leeds, said “ Where do I sign up? Freeze me now and bring me back in a few hundred years please, I take it my bar tab will be cancelled?”
Mr Hibbert, from Yorkshire, said “ Anything to get away from the wife”
Stephen, 45, from Bedford, said: “I don’t even like to think about it. Who would want to be, or know, someone who had been brought back after they died and had their head frozen? I can’t imagine it’s a smooth ride, put it that way.”
And Mary, 75, from Oxford, said: “As a Christian, I don’t think it’s right at all. Once you die, you die, and I’m not scared of that. I’d be more scared of coming back afterwards away from peace and back here where there’s not as much peace.”
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