Michael Gaffney Essays - Ageing, Gerontology, Senescence, Demography

Michael Gaffney Mr. Morrisey 7th Hour English November 5, 2000 Life Expectancy Research and biology will be the most important factors that determine how long people will be expected to live. With all the research and technology starting to prevail people in the future will live longer and healthier lives. There are many centenari-ans in the world now, that number will continue to rise rapidly in the next 20 years. The longest-lived human on record was 122 years 5 months and 14 days (Fischer 58). This number will easily be surpassed in the future. The average life expectancy in the United States has grown so much in the last 100 years it shows only a promising future. The overall goal is to live a long and healthy life, not just to extend the span. The average life expectancy in the United States has grown from 47 in 1900 to 76 in 1999. In the next century, biology should help more and more people reach the age of 100 (Weiner 74). Currently there are about 61,000 people over the age of 100, by the year 2020, it is predicted that there will be over 214,000 (56). The male sex does not seem to be living as long nor as healthy, 79 percent of the people over 100 are women (58). Although centenarians are rare, they are the fastest growing seg-ment of the United Population. The baby boomers will be one of the first generations to experience the great increase in the life expectancy rate. The Census Bureau projects that one in nine baby boomers will survive into their late 90's, and one in 26 will reach 100. "In 1900, the odds of living that long were one in 500," stated Lynn Adler, founder of National Centenarian Awareness Projections (Cowley 59). Extending the average life expectancy age would be great, but living a healthy life while doing that would be even better. Americans are living longer and healthier. The disability rate among people older than 65 is steadily decreasing. Less and less of them are suffering from hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and dementia (59). In a study done in New England, 79 centenarians all lived independently thro ugh their early 90's, and take an average of just one medica-tion (Cowley 59). One man, Miller Quarles, believes, "Old age is a disease. It can be cured." Dr. Walter M. Bortz of Stanford University thinks people should stay alive to 100 years of age. He believes the human body is built to last to the age of 120 years old (Hittner 126). A doctor with an opposing view believes that the length of our life is greatly determined by our hereditary genes, and that not everyone has what it takes to live to be 100 (Hittner 128). Miller Quarles is hoping that research labs and institutions will find a way to lengthen his life and keep him healthy. Some of the scientists might have found something to build on to. In the pasts century, medicines and better sanitation has helped the average life expectancy increase. People are starting to learn more about genes and chemical involvement in the aging process. The goal is not just to live longer, but to also live healthy. With the findings of a bio logical "clock" ticking away in each of our cells, the knowing of how to reset those clocks would mean that people would never die from old age (Fischer 58). Seymour Benzer of the California Institute of Technology has made the first detailed map of a gene's interior. He and his students discovered a "clock gene", which helps our bodies place itself in time (Weiner 75). Each time a cell divide, the strand gets a bit shorter. When it runs out, the cell can not divide anymore so it ages and dies. Scientists found that the enzyme telomerase can rebuild the strand over and over again. This substance has human cells living immortally in a petri dish at Geron Corp. for more than 200 regular lifetimes. None of the scientists have yet fig-ured out how to apply this to the entire body, but they are com-ing closer to being able to create new human parts that might not ever wear out (59). At Advance Cell Technology