Alcor’s Cryonics Experiments: Cold-Hearted
Alcor Life Extension Foundation, which claims that dearly departed Aunt Suzie may be brought to life one day if she’s freeze-dried via cryonics, is under media fire, thanks to a former chief operating officer’s published tell-all. But it’s the account of Alcor’s horrific cryonics experiments sent to PETA by the author that got our blood boiling. He wrote:
I witnessed [Steve Harris, Alcor’s current chief medical advisor] … flush the blood out (while the dog whimpered) while infusing some type of ‘preservation’ chemical. … I have my doubts that she was completely sedated because of the whimpering. … [T]he thought of what they did to this animal just turns my stomach. It was cruel and senseless.
Although Alcor admits that the results of mutilating, killing, and freezing animals “will not be exactly applicable to human cases,” the company has conducted and funded animal torture for decades. Alcor’s own Web site details the nightmarish suffering endured by a dog named Dixie who was drained of all her blood and then infused with new blood, causing her to suffer severe seizures and brain damage:
“5:05 AM. Dixie is awake. Lifting her head up, fighting the endotracheal tube. Very restless.”
“1:00 PM. … She exhibits a peculiar ‘windmilling’ motion with her forelegs. Suddenly, she tenses, the left side of her body goes rigid. Within a second she has a full-fledged grand mal seizure.”
“2:50 PM. Another grand mal. This is looking bad. There is clearly some right brain injury. Her left face is slack, though her left limbs look okay with normal movement and response to pain.”
“5:38 PM. Another grand mal, several petit seizures as well. … Hugh and I head off into town to the Spaghetti Factory. What a relief just to be away for a few hours. Everything is so elegant at the restaurant and all the personnel are so clean cut and attractive. … Returning from dinner we find Dixie is a real handful — managing her I.V.’s, keeping her fed, cleaning her up when she urinates or defecates. Every five minutes there’s a major task at hand.”
“11:26 PM. The primadone isn’t working. Seizures, seizures and more seziures. Valium, Valium, and Valium.”
“12:00 midnight. She wakes me up crying. Belly very distended.”
“1:36 AM. She’s restless and crying again. I decide to pass a stomach tube and suction her. … She fights me powerfully, but the job gets done.”
It’s no wonder municipalities across the country have prohibited cryonics experiments on animals. In 1993, Alcor’s animal experiments were halted in California. Unfortunately, the company still conducts and funds cruel experiments on animals in other places—but not for long. PETA’s fight to stop these atrocities begins with our letter to the company’s president and executive director, Jennifer Chapman. We’ll keep you posted.
Written by Karin Bennett
