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archershipsIf you ever think that you might want to be cryopreserved, you should know that the legality of cryonics is under serious legal attack.
Representative Bob Stump (R) has introduced legislation into the Arizona House of Representatives (HB 2637) that cryonics be regulated under the Funeral and Embalmer's Board and that Alcor's use of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) be stripped.
If passed, HB 2637 would require Alcor hire only licensed embalmers or their apprentices to carry out procedures. Cryonics requires a very different kind and level of expertise than embalming (see below for details) and such a requirement would seriously hamper Alcor's ability to provide proper care. Also, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act currently governs Alcor's legal right to accept patient's bodies for long term research. Stripping Alcor of that right would throw Alcor's patients into legal limbo. Finally, the Arizona Funeral Board Director Rudy Thomas is openly hostile to cryonics companies and Alcor could expect to receive ongoing harassment. Thomas is quoted by author Richard Sandomir as saying, "These companies need to be regulated or deregulated out of business." (New York Times, 14 Oct 2003).
The members of the House Health Committee are scheduled to hear this legislation on Thursday, February 26, 2004 at 9:00 am, so if you plan to be cryopreserved, or even if you simply believe that people should be free to decide what should be done with their own bodies, please contact the committee members immediately and express your opposition to HB 2637. Your efforts can make a difference--as noted below, most of the co-sponsors of the bill don't know that much about it, and signed on as a favor to Stump. If they hear significant opposition to it, they're likely to vote against it.
More detail and contact information is included below.
February 22, 2004
To All Alcor Members,
We need your help! As you may have heard, Alcor is currently
engaged in a serious legislative matter. Representative Bob
Stump has introduced a bill to the Arizona House of
Representatives that proposes to regulate cryonics. HB 2637
(embalmers; funeral establishments; storing remains)
proposes cryonics be regulated under the Funeral and
Embalmer's Board and that Alcor's use of the Uniform
Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) be stripped.
Up until now, we have focused on getting Alcor members who
live in Arizona to contact their district representatives
and urge them to vote against this bill. Now we need all of
our members to contact the members of the Health Committee
and let them know how dangerous this bill is to your
survival no matter what state you live in.
Although fifty legislators signed on as co-sponsors, we are
finding as we contact them one by one that the support for
this legislation may be a mile wide, but it is only an inch
deep. Most of the co-sponsors with whom we've spoken are
saying that they did it as a favor to the sponsor,
Representative Stump, and would likely vote against it in
its current form in committee or on the floor. We need your
help to ensure this likelihood becomes reality.
Attached is the one-page briefing paper that we've been
distributing to the Arizona Legislature in Word format or in
PDF format. Or you can link to the following web address:
http://www.alcor.org/legislativealert.html to find the
documents.
Please choose a few of the talking points listed at the end
of this letter which are most significant to you personally,
and contact the members of the House Health Committee by
fax, email and phone and urge them to vote against HB 2637
regarding embalmers; funeral establishments; storing
remains. Our hearing is scheduled for Thursday, February 26,
2004 at 9:00 am, so it's imperative that you contact them
immediately.
Read below for examples of things to say.
The House Health Committee members are listed below. Any of
them can be reached through the toll-free number for the
Arizona Capitol, 1-800-352-8404.
Republicans:
· Chair - Deb Gullett
Fax 602-417-3011, phone 602-926-5766, email
dgullett@azleg.state.az.us
· Vice-Chair - Bob Stump (be polite!)
Fax 602-417-3109, phone 602-926-5413, email
bstump@azleg.state.az.us
· Philip J. Hanson
Fax 602-417-3009, phone 602-926-3255, email
phanson@azleg.state.az.us
· Bill Konopnicki
Fax 602-417-3105, phone 602-926-5409, email
bkonopni@azleg.state.az.us
· Colette Rosati
Fax 602-417-3108, phone 602-926-5169, email
crosati@azleg.state.az.us
· Bill Arnold
Fax 602-417-3012, phone 602-926-5894, email
barnold@azleg.state.az.us
· Mark Thompson
Fax 602-417-3117, phone 602-926-4225, email
mthompso@azleg.state.az.us
· Warde Nichols
Fax 602-417-3021, phone 602-926-5168, email
wnichols@azleg.state.az.us
Democrats:
· Cheryl Chase
Fax 602-417-3123, phone 602-926-5030, email
cchase@azleg.state.az.us
· Phil Lopes
Fax 602-417-3127, phone 602-926-3278, email
plopes@azleg.state.az.us
· David Bradley
Fax 602-417-3028, phone 602-926-3300, email
dbradley@azleg.state.az.us
· Linda Lopez
Fax 602-417-3029, phone 602-926-4089, email
llopez@azleg.state.az.us
If you receive a response from any of the legislators,
please let us know immediately.
In the most polite and non-confrontational but firm way here
is what you should say when you contact the legislators:
· Give them your brief credentials. It helps significantly
if you are a registered voter in their district, and mention
also that you are a doctor or researcher who works with our
organization; you are an employee or a member of Alcor, or
you are a family member of an Alcor patient - in other words
what your direct connection is.
· Thank them for their time and consideration.
· This bill is a solution without a problem. That no one has
identified the public health or public safety reason for
this proposed legislation.
· This bill would have the likely effect of eliminating our
ability to continue performing cryopreservation procedures
and research in Arizona.
· Alcor was not invited to participate in the dialogue about
this proposal until the very last minute and had virtually
no input into the development of this legislation.
· Finally ask them if they will please vote against the bill
(if you are talking to a secretary or legislative assistant
ask them to have the legislator get back to you with how
they will vote).
If you have questions about the legislative processes or
this appeal, you are encouraged to contact our lobbyist,
Barry M. Aarons, or his staff members Jennifer Clark and
Christen DuRoss at 331 North First Avenue, Suite #250,
Phoenix, Arizona 85003; phone: 602-253-1821 Fax: 602-452-
2929; email: aarons1231@aol.com.
Representative Stump is moving quickly, hoping to have this
bill passed into law before we are able to react. We need
your help to ensure this bill gets killed before it has the
chance to damage the quality of care we provide to our
membership. Please help us defeat this bill.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Waynick
CEO/President
------------------------------------------------------------
Talking Points
HB 2637 [embalmers; funeral establishments; storing remains]
· The sunrise process was not followed, and Alcor was not
notified of the stakeholder meetings even though we are the
target for which the proposed legislation was drafted;
· Alcor is not necessarily opposed to regulation, but we
oppose bill HB 2637, which mandates that Alcor be regulated
by hostile parties with no understanding of what we do, and
which does not respect the rights of Alcor members;
· Alcor does not engage in the practice of embalming. The
protocols and solutions used have no relevant similarities
to the procedures and solutions used in the funeral
industry. To the contrary, the protocols and solutions used
for cryopreservation are similar to those used in medicine
and organ transplant procedures;
· We employ a highly skilled neurosurgeon to perform our
surgery, and the use of an embalmer would represent a
significant reduction in the quality of care we dispense to
our members;
· The training for embalmers does not supply them with any
understanding of cryopreservation procedures or the
requirements for proper storage of cryopreserved patients.
Cryopreservation procedures are much more complex than
embalming procedures, and many of the requirements are
incompatible;
· Our cryopreservation procedures are an application of
experimental research protocols that are held to high
medical standards, rather than cosmetic preservation the
likes of which are carried out by funerary establishments;
· Our doors have always been wide open. In addition,
multiple authorities regularly scrutinize our legal, health
and safety standards. Our practices, protocols and
procedures are described in great detail on our website, in
the printed literature we provide to our members and to the
public, and have been publicly discussed on numerous
occasions to audiences worldwide for the past 32 years;
· All members of the legislature are invited to visit our
facility in Scottsdale for a tour of our operations at any
time that is convenient to them. We also conduct tours for
the general public four times each week, on Tuesdays and
Fridays at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm;
· The five year storage time limit imposed by this bill will
not only impact cryonics organizations, but can also be
applied to museums, medical schools, organ banks, fertility
centers, universities or even a skeleton kept for more than
five years in a high school classroom;
· To regulate a scientific process like cryonics, you need
to suppose that a set of standards exists; that regulatory
officials will have access to experts familiar with those
standards; and that those standards have been communicated
to all related organizations;
· Alcor is engaged in progressive scientific and medical
research under the guidance of scientific and medical
advisory boards composed of highly skilled licensed Medical
Doctors, PhD's and renowned research scientists. No such
skill level exists on the Funeral Board;
· Revoking our access to the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
(UAGA) will severely compromise our ability to rescue our
patients outside the state of Arizona in a timely fashion,
thereby rendering our procedures nearly useless;
· The Funeral Board feels it is necessary to revoke Alcor's
access to the UAGA. Amending the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
(UAGA) in this non-uniform way removes the right of citizens
in Arizona to designate a particular hospital, physician, or
surgeon to carry out appropriate procedures in accordance
with their wishes as specified by the UAGA. This is not just
a regulation issue. It is a human rights issue involving the
right of human beings to self-determination regarding their
own fate in a matter that many people (and certainly our
members) consider of prime personal importance;
· Oversight should not be undertaken by an agency that is
openly hostile to our mission, objectives and operations.
Arizona Funeral Board Director Rudy Thomas was quoted by
author Richard Sandomir as saying, "These companies need to
be regulated or deregulated out of business." (New York
Times, 14 Oct 2003);
· Alcor members are willing volunteers for an experimental
procedure for which they make an informed decision years or
many times decades in advance of when our services are
needed. We make no guarantees that the procedure will work.
No government agency should have the right to interfere with
the self-determination rights of an individual to choose to
donate their body to a research organization for the purpose
of cryopreservation;
· There have been no consumer complaints about our
procedures in our 32-year history. The only contention about
our operation since our inception has been, on two
occasions, squabbles between family members over the concept
of cryonics;
· Alcor Life Extension Foundation is an asset to the State
of Arizona as a responsible organization engaged in
progressive medical and scientific research. Unlike the
mission of the Funeral Board, our mission is the
preservation of individual human life;
· There is no prohibition in Arizona statutes against an
organization receiving reasonable payment for the removal,
processing, disposal, preservation, quality control, storage
and transportation of an anatomical donation for the
purposes of scientific research;
· We object to the faulty reasoning for introducing such
hasty regulation. Regulation requires the demonstration of
public need; protection of the public from health and safety
hazards; consumer protection from unfair competition, and
consumer protection from predatory pricing. Furthermore, to
regulate a scientific process like cryonics, you need to
suppose that a set of standards exists; that regulatory
officials will have access to experts familiar with those
standards; and that those standards have been communicated
to all related organizations. None of these criteria have
been suggested to exist;
· It is the desire to make cryonics work that has motivated
some of the most innovative work in the field of organ
preservation. It has also been a factor (lesser, but perhaps
significant) in the financing and research in
nanotechnology. Alcor is contributing to the world in
several significant ways;
· The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act was created as a mechanism
for people who wish to donate their bodies or organs for
transplant or research. For the first time in history, the
Arizona legislature is being asked to restrict this
fundamental human right of terminal patients. This would set
an extremely serious precedent, which is contrary to the
intentions of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and could
result in Arizona being portrayed as a state which may not
honor the wishes of people who are terminally ill. Research
and educational institutions, which rely on the UAGA, may
wonder if "they are next" and may feel tempted to relocate
out of state. Medical institutions will have to study
complex legislation in an effort to determine how it may
apply to them;
None of this is necessary. The supposed problem which the
bill addresses does not exist. Alcor Foundation uses
procedures that are intended for optimal preservation of the
human brain. These procedures have been mischaracterized and
sensationalized in the press, because of actions by a
disgruntled employee. Nevertheless, all details of the
procedures themselves are thoroughly documented and freely
available.
Representative Bob Stump (R) has introduced legislation into the Arizona House of Representatives (HB 2637) that cryonics be regulated under the Funeral and Embalmer's Board and that Alcor's use of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) be stripped.
If passed, HB 2637 would require Alcor hire only licensed embalmers or their apprentices to carry out procedures. Cryonics requires a very different kind and level of expertise than embalming (see below for details) and such a requirement would seriously hamper Alcor's ability to provide proper care. Also, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act currently governs Alcor's legal right to accept patient's bodies for long term research. Stripping Alcor of that right would throw Alcor's patients into legal limbo. Finally, the Arizona Funeral Board Director Rudy Thomas is openly hostile to cryonics companies and Alcor could expect to receive ongoing harassment. Thomas is quoted by author Richard Sandomir as saying, "These companies need to be regulated or deregulated out of business." (New York Times, 14 Oct 2003).
The members of the House Health Committee are scheduled to hear this legislation on Thursday, February 26, 2004 at 9:00 am, so if you plan to be cryopreserved, or even if you simply believe that people should be free to decide what should be done with their own bodies, please contact the committee members immediately and express your opposition to HB 2637. Your efforts can make a difference--as noted below, most of the co-sponsors of the bill don't know that much about it, and signed on as a favor to Stump. If they hear significant opposition to it, they're likely to vote against it.
More detail and contact information is included below.
February 22, 2004
To All Alcor Members,
We need your help! As you may have heard, Alcor is currently
engaged in a serious legislative matter. Representative Bob
Stump has introduced a bill to the Arizona House of
Representatives that proposes to regulate cryonics. HB 2637
(embalmers; funeral establishments; storing remains)
proposes cryonics be regulated under the Funeral and
Embalmer's Board and that Alcor's use of the Uniform
Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) be stripped.
Up until now, we have focused on getting Alcor members who
live in Arizona to contact their district representatives
and urge them to vote against this bill. Now we need all of
our members to contact the members of the Health Committee
and let them know how dangerous this bill is to your
survival no matter what state you live in.
Although fifty legislators signed on as co-sponsors, we are
finding as we contact them one by one that the support for
this legislation may be a mile wide, but it is only an inch
deep. Most of the co-sponsors with whom we've spoken are
saying that they did it as a favor to the sponsor,
Representative Stump, and would likely vote against it in
its current form in committee or on the floor. We need your
help to ensure this likelihood becomes reality.
Attached is the one-page briefing paper that we've been
distributing to the Arizona Legislature in Word format or in
PDF format. Or you can link to the following web address:
http://www.alcor.org/legislativealert.html to find the
documents.
Please choose a few of the talking points listed at the end
of this letter which are most significant to you personally,
and contact the members of the House Health Committee by
fax, email and phone and urge them to vote against HB 2637
regarding embalmers; funeral establishments; storing
remains. Our hearing is scheduled for Thursday, February 26,
2004 at 9:00 am, so it's imperative that you contact them
immediately.
Read below for examples of things to say.
The House Health Committee members are listed below. Any of
them can be reached through the toll-free number for the
Arizona Capitol, 1-800-352-8404.
Republicans:
· Chair - Deb Gullett
Fax 602-417-3011, phone 602-926-5766, email
dgullett@azleg.state.az.us
· Vice-Chair - Bob Stump (be polite!)
Fax 602-417-3109, phone 602-926-5413, email
bstump@azleg.state.az.us
· Philip J. Hanson
Fax 602-417-3009, phone 602-926-3255, email
phanson@azleg.state.az.us
· Bill Konopnicki
Fax 602-417-3105, phone 602-926-5409, email
bkonopni@azleg.state.az.us
· Colette Rosati
Fax 602-417-3108, phone 602-926-5169, email
crosati@azleg.state.az.us
· Bill Arnold
Fax 602-417-3012, phone 602-926-5894, email
barnold@azleg.state.az.us
· Mark Thompson
Fax 602-417-3117, phone 602-926-4225, email
mthompso@azleg.state.az.us
· Warde Nichols
Fax 602-417-3021, phone 602-926-5168, email
wnichols@azleg.state.az.us
Democrats:
· Cheryl Chase
Fax 602-417-3123, phone 602-926-5030, email
cchase@azleg.state.az.us
· Phil Lopes
Fax 602-417-3127, phone 602-926-3278, email
plopes@azleg.state.az.us
· David Bradley
Fax 602-417-3028, phone 602-926-3300, email
dbradley@azleg.state.az.us
· Linda Lopez
Fax 602-417-3029, phone 602-926-4089, email
llopez@azleg.state.az.us
If you receive a response from any of the legislators,
please let us know immediately.
In the most polite and non-confrontational but firm way here
is what you should say when you contact the legislators:
· Give them your brief credentials. It helps significantly
if you are a registered voter in their district, and mention
also that you are a doctor or researcher who works with our
organization; you are an employee or a member of Alcor, or
you are a family member of an Alcor patient - in other words
what your direct connection is.
· Thank them for their time and consideration.
· This bill is a solution without a problem. That no one has
identified the public health or public safety reason for
this proposed legislation.
· This bill would have the likely effect of eliminating our
ability to continue performing cryopreservation procedures
and research in Arizona.
· Alcor was not invited to participate in the dialogue about
this proposal until the very last minute and had virtually
no input into the development of this legislation.
· Finally ask them if they will please vote against the bill
(if you are talking to a secretary or legislative assistant
ask them to have the legislator get back to you with how
they will vote).
If you have questions about the legislative processes or
this appeal, you are encouraged to contact our lobbyist,
Barry M. Aarons, or his staff members Jennifer Clark and
Christen DuRoss at 331 North First Avenue, Suite #250,
Phoenix, Arizona 85003; phone: 602-253-1821 Fax: 602-452-
2929; email: aarons1231@aol.com.
Representative Stump is moving quickly, hoping to have this
bill passed into law before we are able to react. We need
your help to ensure this bill gets killed before it has the
chance to damage the quality of care we provide to our
membership. Please help us defeat this bill.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Waynick
CEO/President
------------------------------------------------------------
Talking Points
HB 2637 [embalmers; funeral establishments; storing remains]
· The sunrise process was not followed, and Alcor was not
notified of the stakeholder meetings even though we are the
target for which the proposed legislation was drafted;
· Alcor is not necessarily opposed to regulation, but we
oppose bill HB 2637, which mandates that Alcor be regulated
by hostile parties with no understanding of what we do, and
which does not respect the rights of Alcor members;
· Alcor does not engage in the practice of embalming. The
protocols and solutions used have no relevant similarities
to the procedures and solutions used in the funeral
industry. To the contrary, the protocols and solutions used
for cryopreservation are similar to those used in medicine
and organ transplant procedures;
· We employ a highly skilled neurosurgeon to perform our
surgery, and the use of an embalmer would represent a
significant reduction in the quality of care we dispense to
our members;
· The training for embalmers does not supply them with any
understanding of cryopreservation procedures or the
requirements for proper storage of cryopreserved patients.
Cryopreservation procedures are much more complex than
embalming procedures, and many of the requirements are
incompatible;
· Our cryopreservation procedures are an application of
experimental research protocols that are held to high
medical standards, rather than cosmetic preservation the
likes of which are carried out by funerary establishments;
· Our doors have always been wide open. In addition,
multiple authorities regularly scrutinize our legal, health
and safety standards. Our practices, protocols and
procedures are described in great detail on our website, in
the printed literature we provide to our members and to the
public, and have been publicly discussed on numerous
occasions to audiences worldwide for the past 32 years;
· All members of the legislature are invited to visit our
facility in Scottsdale for a tour of our operations at any
time that is convenient to them. We also conduct tours for
the general public four times each week, on Tuesdays and
Fridays at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm;
· The five year storage time limit imposed by this bill will
not only impact cryonics organizations, but can also be
applied to museums, medical schools, organ banks, fertility
centers, universities or even a skeleton kept for more than
five years in a high school classroom;
· To regulate a scientific process like cryonics, you need
to suppose that a set of standards exists; that regulatory
officials will have access to experts familiar with those
standards; and that those standards have been communicated
to all related organizations;
· Alcor is engaged in progressive scientific and medical
research under the guidance of scientific and medical
advisory boards composed of highly skilled licensed Medical
Doctors, PhD's and renowned research scientists. No such
skill level exists on the Funeral Board;
· Revoking our access to the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
(UAGA) will severely compromise our ability to rescue our
patients outside the state of Arizona in a timely fashion,
thereby rendering our procedures nearly useless;
· The Funeral Board feels it is necessary to revoke Alcor's
access to the UAGA. Amending the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
(UAGA) in this non-uniform way removes the right of citizens
in Arizona to designate a particular hospital, physician, or
surgeon to carry out appropriate procedures in accordance
with their wishes as specified by the UAGA. This is not just
a regulation issue. It is a human rights issue involving the
right of human beings to self-determination regarding their
own fate in a matter that many people (and certainly our
members) consider of prime personal importance;
· Oversight should not be undertaken by an agency that is
openly hostile to our mission, objectives and operations.
Arizona Funeral Board Director Rudy Thomas was quoted by
author Richard Sandomir as saying, "These companies need to
be regulated or deregulated out of business." (New York
Times, 14 Oct 2003);
· Alcor members are willing volunteers for an experimental
procedure for which they make an informed decision years or
many times decades in advance of when our services are
needed. We make no guarantees that the procedure will work.
No government agency should have the right to interfere with
the self-determination rights of an individual to choose to
donate their body to a research organization for the purpose
of cryopreservation;
· There have been no consumer complaints about our
procedures in our 32-year history. The only contention about
our operation since our inception has been, on two
occasions, squabbles between family members over the concept
of cryonics;
· Alcor Life Extension Foundation is an asset to the State
of Arizona as a responsible organization engaged in
progressive medical and scientific research. Unlike the
mission of the Funeral Board, our mission is the
preservation of individual human life;
· There is no prohibition in Arizona statutes against an
organization receiving reasonable payment for the removal,
processing, disposal, preservation, quality control, storage
and transportation of an anatomical donation for the
purposes of scientific research;
· We object to the faulty reasoning for introducing such
hasty regulation. Regulation requires the demonstration of
public need; protection of the public from health and safety
hazards; consumer protection from unfair competition, and
consumer protection from predatory pricing. Furthermore, to
regulate a scientific process like cryonics, you need to
suppose that a set of standards exists; that regulatory
officials will have access to experts familiar with those
standards; and that those standards have been communicated
to all related organizations. None of these criteria have
been suggested to exist;
· It is the desire to make cryonics work that has motivated
some of the most innovative work in the field of organ
preservation. It has also been a factor (lesser, but perhaps
significant) in the financing and research in
nanotechnology. Alcor is contributing to the world in
several significant ways;
· The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act was created as a mechanism
for people who wish to donate their bodies or organs for
transplant or research. For the first time in history, the
Arizona legislature is being asked to restrict this
fundamental human right of terminal patients. This would set
an extremely serious precedent, which is contrary to the
intentions of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and could
result in Arizona being portrayed as a state which may not
honor the wishes of people who are terminally ill. Research
and educational institutions, which rely on the UAGA, may
wonder if "they are next" and may feel tempted to relocate
out of state. Medical institutions will have to study
complex legislation in an effort to determine how it may
apply to them;
None of this is necessary. The supposed problem which the
bill addresses does not exist. Alcor Foundation uses
procedures that are intended for optimal preservation of the
human brain. These procedures have been mischaracterized and
sensationalized in the press, because of actions by a
disgruntled employee. Nevertheless, all details of the
procedures themselves are thoroughly documented and freely
available.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 03:40 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-27 02:01 am (UTC)A few years ago there was a local story where a funeral home was discovered to have been defrauding customers for years. The freak owner had been dumping bodies in shallow graves in the woods, while claiming to have cremated them. Can't remember how it ended exactly, but he got busted... THen a similar event happened just the next year.
Ah, here we go. Apparently this was a family tradition for this little fucknut...
SO yeah, there's a rather sick trend in the entire funeral-related industry to defraud. They put on a good show about caring for the dead but in reality, they are just slobbering greed freaks. So the fact that they've bribed some dipshit in Arizona to try and ban Cryogenics isn't surprising...
no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 05:58 pm (UTC)Like most enterprises, there exist those who strive for the quick buck and give others a bad name. If you had been reading, you would have noted dipshit that he wasn't trying to ban cryogenics, just regulate it. If Alcor was indeed a genuine operation, why would they fight rather than work with and help develop those regulations.
Nice stories you right livejournalboy!
no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 07:23 pm (UTC)Assume that you're a hostile legislator who wants to shut down cryonics. Which is easier to pass? An outright ban? Or "sensible" regulation? Once the regulations are passed, how hard to you think it would be to rachet them up, or pack the regulatory board with hostile members? Consider these quotes by Arizona Funeral Board Director Rudy Thomas:
"There's no difference between cryonics and cremation," (Arizona Capitol Times, 23 Sept 2003)
"These companies need to be regulated or deregulated out of business" (New York Times, 14 Oct 2003).
Would you want to be regulated by someone so clearly hostile and/or ignorant about your business?
no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 07:52 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2006-02-28 05:52 pm (UTC)It may be that the legistlators did believe it to be a scam, since Alcor isn't exactly demonstrating that cryonics is anything but.
Regarding the other comment here about funeral homes taking advantage; every singler person out there has access to a phone and phone book and if they would take the time to call around, they would find a variety of pricing available to them. These are the same people that would drive 20 miles to save 10 bucks on a tv, but not on a funeral.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 06:53 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 09:21 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 09:29 pm (UTC)Fuck that.