Anyone who looks them up online can find this information easily. It is required to be public since they are a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Here are their current board of directors: https://www.alcor.org/library/alcor-board-of-directors/
> What if their interests become misaligned wrt customers?
Anything is possible but this seems extremely unlikely given their governing structure and requirements for being on the board of directors. Alcor has been criticized in the past because they fall very far in favor of protecting their existing patients in cryopreservation rather than making accommodations for prospective patients, leading to them turning away prospective patients for a variety of reasons.
> A fundamental rationale for selecting the self perpetuating Board structure was its ability to provide continuity of purpose over a long period of time. Existing Board members select those new Board members who they believe are best able to preserve Alcor’s core values and carry out its mission. All Board members are required by Alcor Bylaws to be Alcor members. While not required by the Bylaws, we also find that Alcor Board members are cryonicists of long standing and are well known within the cryonics community. By tradition, new Board members are usually sought from the ranks of Alcor Advisors, although the Board can and has selected Board Members who have not been Advisors. Board members have a strong incentive to choose carefully because the success of Alcor and the survival of our members — including our Board members — is heavily dependent on the abilities and character of future Boards of Directors.
BTW, I'm not a shill for Alcor. I think some aspects of their operations are worthy of criticism. But this is not one of them. If you disagree, feel free to state why, but I would recommend at least learning the basics about them before doing so.
Freezer burn occurs when moisture escapes from frozen biospecimens due to slow freezing and temperature fluctuations. It's not an issue during storage in liquid nitrogen, which causes much faster freezing and has a much colder storage temperature level.
> And a few very wealthy people
Cryonics is not only accessible to the very wealthy. There are options available that are equal or less expensive than an average funeral.
> How do you keep a cryostasis business honest when you - the customer - are dead and there is no profitable reason to keep you from becoming like that loose frozen hamburger at the bottom of my freezer
1: The companies are non-profits so profit is irrelevant.
2: You look at their long-term reputation which is important for them to get new clients. This is why Alcor has been around for 50 years without thawing a single one of their patients.
"A comprehensive meta-analysis published in 2019 in JAMA that compared 32 oral antipsychotics helped solidify the sentiments shared by Kahn and other investigators who have conducted clinical studies with amisulpride. That meta-analysis identified amisulpride as the second most effective antipsychotic at reducing overall symptoms in schizophrenia patients (behind clozapine) and the most effective in terms of reducing positive symptoms. The analysis also ranked amisulpride better than clozapine in terms of tolerability and side effects."
Do you know what else sounds like a recipe for killing people? Not allowing people to access therapeutics that might save their life because it hasn't yet gone through regulatory approval yet for whatever reason (delays, too expensive to submit), etc.
> There's very little that's approved by a non-US body and approved by the EU or non-OECD body that warrants clinical use, and if it is it gets reviewed quickly
LOL. What are you talking about. There are so many examples.
One of the most tragic is amisulpride. Amisulpride is an antipsychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions. Some key notes about its regulatory status:
- Amisulpride was first approved in France in the 1980s and is widely used in Europe.
- It was never approved by the FDA for use in the United States, and at this point there's not organization that can afford to go through the approval process because there's no patent.
- The reason often cited is that the manufacturer did not apply for approval with the FDA. It was likely not considered commercially viable for the US market at the time.
- Amisulpride is believed to have comparable efficacy to other second-generation antipsychotics like olanzapine and risperidone, but with a lower side effect burden according to some studies.
- In Europe, amisulpride is considered a first-line treatment option for schizophrenia, but American psychiatrists do not have access to it. According to some sources, it is literally recommended as the best antipsychotic in other countries.