Convincing the Public that Treating Aging as a Medical Condition is a Realistic Prospect

Over longer timescales involving large-scale funding, meaningful progress only occurs in those lines of research and development that enjoy broad public support and understanding. While it is the case that small groups of philanthropists and visionaries are those who do the hard (and largely unacknowledged) work to create new possibilities, of those options, only those that are welcomed and desired by the masses are brought into reality. In the matter of rejuvenation therapies, we presently stand somewhere in an awkward transition phase in which the experts are largely convinced, but the public remains largely ignorant or skeptical. Given that the research community is resolved to build ways to treat aging as a medical condition, and a related biotech industry is forming, we'll see ever more examples of advocacy aimed at educating the public, in order to obtain support for bigger and broader programs that will advance the state of the art in this field of medicine. It's not your imagination - the world is graying. In fact, by 2050, the global population age 65 and older is projected to nearly triple, to 1.5 billion. With this aging population, it will be more important than ever to reduce the burden of age-related disease. In the future, science will allow us to intervene in the aging process to make this a reality. It's imperative to keep our older population healthy and independent as long as possible. As this population grows, we'll need to provide help to increas...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs