Evelyne Shuster, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Addiction program, University of Pennsylvania, VA Medical Center, University and Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215 823-4206, evelyn.shuster@med.va.gov

Public health has increased the average life expectancy by about 7 hours every day for the past 100 years in the United States. But we want and expect more from public health. And more is both a healthier and a longer life. The question is: How much longer and how much healthier do we want our lives to be? There has been an enthusiastic support for the idea of embryonic stem-cell based treatment of such diseases as diabetes and Parkingson's, and even of aging and death. Some envision a time when 50 more healthy years could be added to our "natural" life span;others believe that "life could be extended almost indefinitely, free of a multitude of diseases both of body and mind and even of the infirmities of age." We may,of course, easily dismiss these pronouncements as a cross between the bizarre and the fantastic. Yet,somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning and cell engineering research challenge us into believing that we will soon become masters of our health and destiny. Should public health support an agenda that calls for a radical increase in human life expectancy? When does increase in quantity of life interfere with quality of life? Is social justice served by public health policy that promotes a much longer life?

Learning Objectives:

• to explore the meaning of aging;
• to assess the goals of medicine and public health;
• to explore the difference between quality and quantity of life;
• to evaluate policy options in public health.

Keywords: Genetics, Aging

Related Web page: N/A

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.