*

From the New York Times:

“For the Food and Drug Administration, if for no one else, aging is not a disease and death is not an end-point. The F.D.A. will approve only drugs that treat diseases in measurable ways” –link

It is 2006 as I write this, and there is a vast consumer desire to live longer.  We already live longer on average than our grandparents by almost twenty years.  I don’t think you will find many people that would happily agree this government position.  Contrarily, we should be actively funding any drug research that appears to promise slowed aging, if only for the callous economic reality that a population that is able to stay young longer could boost productivity.