20 replies to this topic

[brokenportal]

From the CI website:



July 11, 2010


The Cryonics Institute's 98th is the first CI patient from British Columbia, Canada. British Columbia has a law against the marketing of cryonics, but the practice of cryonics is not illegal in B.C. The case report is now on the CI website: http://www.cryonics.org/whatsnew.html

[niner]

I'd like to hear their rationale for this bizarre decision. They're treating cryonics like cigarettes.

[bgwowk]

There is a short description of the situation here:

http://www.alcor.org...q06.html#canada

The long story of the law is here:

http://www.cryocdn.org/law57.html

The government's explanation of the law is here:

http://www.consumerp...id=180&Itemid=5

[Luke Parrish]

A person must not offer for sale, or sell, an arrangement for the preservation or storage of human remains that is based on
a: cryonics,
b: irradiation, or
c: any other means of preservation or storage, by whatever name called, and that is offered, or sold, on the expectation of the resuscitation of human remains at a future time.

Irradiation? Who exactly offers irradiation on the expectation of future resuscitation?

[niner]

Irradiation? Who exactly offers irradiation on the expectation of future resuscitation?

To keep you from rotting? It works for fruit...

[The Immortalist]

We must work to take down this law immediately!

[The Immortalist]

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP FIGHT THE ANTI-CRYONICS LAW (from http://www.cryocdn.org/law57.html )

We may not be able to exert political pressure, but we may at least may be able to achieve some "water-torture". The Funeral Services Registrar, Paul Snikars, once told me how irritating it is for him to have someone phone him at least once a month about Section 57.

Write:
The Minister of Housing, Recreation Tayt Winnitoy, Registrar
and Consumer Services Cemeteries and Funeral
Parliament Buildings Services Branch
Victoria, British Columbia 1019 Wharf Street
V8V 1X4 CANADA Victoria, British Columbia
V8V 1X4 CANADA
Tell them that forbidding a potentially life-saving procedure does not protect B.C. citizens. Tell them that family members are likely to be even more upset if technology for resuscitation of those currently frozen is devised, and B.C. law had prevented their survival.

I also recommend phoning Mr. Paul Snikars [(604) 387-9114] (or FAX (604) 953-3533) asking him to justify Section 57, and asking him to give a specific directive that medical personnel, funeral directors and common carriers can assist in a cryonics emergency without fear of prosecution. Tell him that medical personnel, funeral personnel and common carriers should be given permission to assist in cryonics cases without fear of prosecution.

Computer-literate persons living outside British Columbia may also be able to lobby in another way. There is a USENET group called BC.POLITICS, and a number of cryonicists (notably John de Rivaz and Brian Wowk) have already lobbied in this forum against Section 57, attracting the interest and attention of British Columbia residents. I would encourage that this practice be continued.

In my experience in dealing with bureaucrats, I have found them to be incredibly hide-bound in their interpretation and support of existing law, but remarkably open to input concerning legislation in the process of formulation. My most ardent advice to cryonicists, therefore, is to remain aware of funeral legislation being revised in your jurisdictions -- and to be in touch with those who are making revisions. When it comes to anti-cryonics laws, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.

[bgwowk]

Those names look old to me. I suspect the advice offered, particularly people whom to contact, is at least a decade out of date. Nobody should act on this matter without fully familiarizing themselves with the present situation.

[Luna]

huh, a law against cryonics? what's wrong with people?

[Kolos]

I guess they treat it as a hoax...

[The Immortalist]

The cryonics orgs don't even make a profit so the people who made this law made it from unjustifiable prejudice and fear. Stupid humans letting their emotions get the better of them instead of thinking things through rationally.

[Luke Parrish]

The cryonics orgs don't even make a profit so the people who made this law made it from unjustifiable prejudice and fear.

And apparently the delusion that we are trying to preserve corpses just exactly as we would preserve food. Irradiation... *Shakes head sadly.*

[JediMasterLucia]

A law against cryonics.. that makes me sad. A government who don't know anything about this can make up this kind of rules....

Edited by JediMasterLucia, 09 August 2010 - 10:22 PM.

[VictorBjoerk]

outlawing cryonics is simply murder. Such a sad situation that there is such an opposition.......

[JediMasterLucia]

That is how we see it... that makes it so difficult to explain it to them what cryonics really means.
It is indeed very sad. Let people choose themselves what they want if there time comes...

[Shannon Vyff]

It is much more effective if people living in that district will write in about the law.

From Ben Best's write up on this law:

Janet Ricciutti, Executive Director of the BC Funeral Services Association told me that she had heard more about the anti-cryonics law in the two weeks of the letter-writing than she had heard about it in the 16 years she has been with the Funeral Services Association. As a result of the letters, for the first time in her career cryonics was discussed at a meeting of the BC Funeral Services Association.

It was called to my attention, however, that the large number of cryonicists writing from locations outside of British Columbia might not be making the right impression:

> Reply by Janet Ricciutti to a letter writer:
>
> > I have responded to
> > these telephone calls for the past 15 years and I have never received
> > one telephone call from either a consumer wishing to obtain these
> > services from a funeral director or a funeral director requesting
> > information about purchasing the appropriate supplies or equipment to
> > provide such a service. The only enquiries and calls I have received
> > are from the very active lobbyists representing both the US Cryonics
> > institutes and one or two of their lobbying members.
>
> She feels that she is being pressured by outside commercial interests and
> "their lobbyists" rather than by BC residents actually wanting cryonics
> service. This is not unlike what we recently saw in the JREF cryonics debate
> where there are "consumers to be protected," and any consumer who has
> decided that they want cryonics is no longer a consumer, but part of the
> "cryonics lobby" that consumers need to be protected from.
>
> I think it is vital that people writing BC officials make clear that they
> are BC residents, and that this law interferes with their ability to obtain
> even simple cryonics services from funeral directors such as packing in ice
> and shipping. The apparent prohibition of performance of specific
> preparative services is practically a restriction on freedom of religion for
> those BC residents who believe in this manner of disposition. BC residents
> need to make this very personal to be heard as a local consumer trying to
> gain the cooperation of a specific funeral director rather than being seen



> as a mere "lobbyist for the cryonics industry".

Edited by Shannon Vyff, 02 September 2010 - 05:19 PM.

[keegs440]

I would like to take this opportunity put a call out to all BC cryonicists and cryonics-enthusiasts. Five of us from the Vancouver/Lower Mainland area have started meeting regularly (every other month at present, perhaps more frequently down the line) and would like to invite anyone who is interested to join us. Our group currently includes members of both CI and Alcor, as well as 'un-signed' individuals.

We are following up on some recent successes in identifying funeral directors who are willing to take on clients that have arranged to be cryopreserved - despite previous reluctance premised on an imperfect understanding of the prohibition against marketing and sale of cryonics arrangements in BC. Other goals include developing a standby/stabilization kit and protocol, as well as developing a relationship with local hospitals, emergency services, and the BC Coroners Service to make them aware of the unique and time-sensitive needs of individuals who have arranged to be cryopreserved after clinical death.

Please message me if you are interested and would like to learn more. Our next meeting will be in late November.


Also, a club has been started at UBC to promote awareness of and research into cryonics and life extension. To learn more please visit http://ubcclec.wordpress.com - the first meeting is this Wednesday, Oct 6, from 6-8pm in the Student Union Building, Room 212.

Cheers,
Keegan

[benbest]

Owen Richardson in the Less Wrong group is proposing to start a Facebook Group dedicated to ending British Columbia's anti-cryonics law. Owen is looking for collaborators in this project.

http://lesswrong.com...ticryonics_law/

[albedo]

I am very new, unbiased to the field and started to study it. I just wonder if the savvy community here has a comment on the situation in western Europe. I am particularly interested to Switzerland as per my post here. It goes w/o saying that processes in EU being probably more complex (easier in Switzerlard?) we might tend just to copy here US or Canadian regulation. Hard for me to understand the violent opposition the all field generates sometime in people and wonder at which stage of the Schopenhauer's cycle we are: from ridiculing the effort, violently oppose it to finally accept the concept as self-evident.

Edited by albedo, 15 June 2011 - 01:54 PM.

[keegs440]

As this topic has been bumped, I should probably chime in

Since my last post to this thread, both groups I mentioned have grown significantly. I urge cryonicists and other interested persons to contact me if they would like to join the discussion over at CryoBC, and attend our bi-monthly meetings (next one is late July). We are in the process of incorporating a non-profit entity, an immediate priority of which will be to carry out legal research into s.14, and plan appropriate next steps.

The UBC Life Extension Club also had a successful first year, and has ambitious plans for next year. I think it goes without saying that any UBC students on the Longecity boards should join...

-Keegan

[bsmith86]

I don’t think they are doing it right by putting cryonics in the deal. It won’t going to get any profit for the nations than why waste money on it.