This article was sent to me a few days ago, doing a search into it, it's been making its rounds on the internet. Fox ran the story a few days ago...I was just wondering what people's thoughts were on the issue.

I know I got the creeps when I read the article....didn't these guys see the movie Flatliners!

SCIENTISTS have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans. US scientists have succeeded in reviving the dogs after three hours of clinical death, paving the way for trials on humans within years. Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a technique in which subject's veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution. The animals are considered scientifically dead, as they stop breathing and have no heartbeat or brain activity. But three hours later, their blood is replaced and the zombie dogs are brought back to life with an electric shock. Plans to test the technique on humans should be realised within a year, according to the Safar Centre. However rather than sending people to sleep for years, then bringing them back to life to benefit from medical advances, the boffins would be happy to keep people in this state for just a few hours, But even this should be enough to save lives such as battlefield casualties and victims of stabbings or gunshot wounds, who have suffered huge blood loss. During the procedure blood is replaced with saline solution at a few degrees above zero. The dogs' body temperature drops to only 7C, compared with the usual 37C, inducing a state of hypothermia before death. Although the animals are clinically dead, their tissues and organs are perfectly preserved. Damaged blood vessels and tissues can then be repaired via surgery. The dogs are brought back to life by returning the blood to their bodies,giving them 100 per cent oxygen and applying electric shocks to restart their hearts. Tests show they are perfectly normal, with no brain damage. "The results are stunning. I think in 10 years we will be able to prevent death in a certain segment of those using this technology," said one US battlefield doctor.

The results are normal, but are there any paranormal results that wouldn't be shown with animals.....Human testing within a year!

This is like an experiment I saw where they put a wood frog in the freezer, replicating the natural conditions for hibernation, and a few hours later, the frog was frozen solid. When the frog was left out to thaw, he quickly regained "froggie conciousness" and ambulatory movement.
The frog was a major part of how they figured out how to do this, as we know, when people(or animals) are frozen, the liquid in their bodies create ice shards that damage tissues, blood vessels, and major organs. What the frog does is flood it's body with glucose when the temperature triggers hibernation, glucose does not freze completley, therefore protecting the frog from damage.
There were also some studdies done on children who had fallen through the ice and drowned, but were saved before all brain function had ceased. When these children were "thawed" slowly, the cold was found to help slow involuntary body function (breathing, heartbeats) thus preserving the brain against o2 deprivation.

So the actual process of freezing and thawing was the hardest to overcome,( how long can the brain function at this temp. what damage occurs, the balance between temp, and o2 usage...bla bla bla...scientist jargon) Maybe there is damage that could not be seen in the animal that may be apparent in humans, but I guess we will see.

Originally posted by Paulbg2000 The results are normal, but are there any paranormal results that wouldn't be shown with animals.....Human testing within a year!

This brings up an intriguing point about the after life. I personally don't believe in a 'soul' that leaves the body and goes on to an afterlife... but for those who do... I wonder their opinion on what happens to the soul if the body is in suspended animation, technically 'dead' for several hours or longer.... would the soul 'go towards the light' or whatever? or would 'god' know that the person isn't technically dead and prevent the 'soul' from leaving the body? or do people think that these people could get a glimpse of heaven/afterlife? it's an intriguing philosophical question...

"Do you mind if I kill you for a while"? eeek Think I would want to change doctors!

Isn't this a variation on cryogenics? I haven't heard of any of the considerable numbers of people who opted to be frozen being thawed successfully yet, have you? Think I would want a bit more proof before I volunteered to be a human study.

Actually, I find the really scary statement to be "we will be able to prevent death in a certain segment of those using this technology." What happens to the others?

Originally posted by Fossil "Do you mind if I kill you for a while"? eeek Think I would want to change doctors!

hehehe, Another good point, would people voluntarily go for this?...or are they going to try and bring back someone who might be rushed into the hospital with a gunshot wound and pronounced dead....I think it's venturing into territory that really shouldn't be messed with...

Originally posted by Paulbg2000 hehehe, Another good point, would people voluntarily go for this?...or are they going to try and bring back someone who might be rushed into the hospital with a gunshot wound and pronounced dead....I think it's venturing into territory that really shouldn't be messed with...

I'd want every technique used to try to bring me back to (a non-vegative) life. Why should I have that right be taken away from me by restricting research?

uh oh - are we getting into a "research" discussion?

Should be good for quite a few pages - ethical, moral & theological concerns... not to mention the poor dogs!

(hmmm.....crack nuckles...take a sip of green tea..)
well I think that the technology would be used to cryogenically freze people who had a terminal illness (cancer, h.i.v..ect) or injuries that would make them unfunctional, but who would let their relative be frozen? I think it may be hard to let the person go be frozen, knowing that they're not dead, and even though knowing that very soon they would die. I still think there would be too much emotion when it really came down to it.
Then, when they're frozen, what do you tell people (and yourself) what happened? Do you let yourself grieve like a death occured? Will there be more cases of people obsessing over cures for their frozen grandpas? I'm sure this would raise moral questions as well ( pffffft...morals are so unscientific) maybe rich lonley people would do it (lol..like oprah)
Yes, I'd like to hear more opinions on this subject as well....

Originally posted by RAT_SALAD (hmmm.....crack nuckles...take a sip of green tea..) well I think that the technology would be used to cryogenically freze people who had a terminal illness (cancer, h.i.v..ect) or injuries that would make them unfunctional

So far testing hasn't gone more than a few hours from bringing back the clinically dead subject, not sure how it would go long term. I believe the testing in the article is more short term than long...

I think there's a major difference in ethics between bringing someone back from the dead and freezing a live person to cure a desease at a later point. You hear crazy stories from people who died and were brought back to life and most of those were only dead for minutes, not hours.

Has anyone been cryogenically frozen before? I know you see it in movies, but I wasn't aware it had happened in real life at least not long term.

but who would let their relative be frozen? I think it may be hard to let the person go be frozen, knowing that they're not dead, and even though knowing that very soon they would die. I still think there would be too much emotion when it really came down to it.

That's a very selfish statement, if someone could be cured at a later date then to not let them go is purely selfish on the part of the relative. Would you rather see them die than be healed?

I think my main issue with the article above was the whole moral issue, should we be playing God with people lives?

Yes, I agree that not letting your relative be frozen would be selfish, but alot of humans are. It is horrible to think of someone being like that, but I believe it may become an issue"anti-religion bla bla bla bull**it". I would like to prolong life as long as possible, my or my families' , since I don't really believe in an afterlife anyways (although the fairytale sounds nice and ideal) I think we in today's educated society are a little beyond that, but I guess some people need it still (religion) to overcome hard times in their life(or addictions..ect). I guess it's good for something.
I suppose the morality depends on how you were raised, education, and personal thoughts/experiences. I guess how someone feels about this issue would transfer to how they felt about stemcell research as well...

whee...this is a fun issue..

This is kinda eery in a way. I have just finished reading "Hideaway" by Dean Koontz. This issue is in the book, one of the main characters is a Dr and he does this to humans, then later gives up his job and becomes a Vet and then does this to animals.
This is an old post but I am just getting around to it now, it kinda creeps me out that it would be now when I have litteraly just finished this book. I am not sure how true the story on the net is or how long it has been going around. The book was published in 1992 so maybe the internet story of the dogs is someones imagination running amok after reading "Hideaway"?? Either way it's strange.