FREE ESSAY ON LIFE EXPECTANCY

LIFE EXPECTANCY

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 through
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 biological "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 in
Worcester, Mass., scientists have found that by merging a body cell, like a lung cell,
with a cow egg cell stripped of its cow DNA, they are able to "reprogram" the cell so it
can rebuild its telomere strand and grow into a new organ. Scientists created a new
blad-der and successfully transplanted it into a dog. Some scientists are predicting that
today's 40 year olds will be able to trade in their old organs for new and improved ones
by the time they are 70 (Fischer 59). The research into telomere will be growing rap-idly
and looks to be hopeful. 
The way people live their life may be a contributing factor also. Many researchers
believe that chronic illness is not be-cause of aging, but instead due to the lifestyles
people choose (Cowley 58). Some believe environmental and behavioral factors affect as
much as 70 percent of how long we live and how well we live it. Smoking increases the
rate at which we age, exercising slows that rate down. Vitamins, eating nutritious diets,
sun-screen, all factor in into living a healthier life. As part of the environment, it
changes us. Our biology is effected by the food we eat to the stress we endure. Stress
can age a person as much as any other single factor (Roizen, Stephenson 134+). We are
somewhat in control of how long we live. There really are not too many surgeries that
people can have to stay alive longer. Drugs and surgeries can only help the body out so
much once it starts to deteriorate. The possibility of lengthening our lives while
shortening our deaths is with in reach. "Over the next 50 years, we'll be completely
reshaped by biology," says Gregory Stock director of a program on medicine, technology,
and society at the University of California-Los Ange-les Medical School. "We'll double
human life span, but that will be a small part of all that will happen" (Fischer 58).
Many studies are starting to show some hope that a cure is near. One man did a study on
mice. In this study he deprived mice of food, they ate less, and lived longer. He found
if mice eat only 60 percent of their preferred diet, they will live as long as 56
months-that is equal to 165 human years. The mice are smaller, but they retain their
youthfulness and intellects as they age (Taubes 59). Another study, done on estrogen,
found some hope that women will live longer than what they are. The drop of es-trogen in
a woman can make their skin dry, her vaginal walls thin, and have an effect on their mood
swings. Less estrogen in the body also makes bones lose density (hip fractures kill
65,000 American women each year), cholesterol levels worsen and blood vessels stiffen
(Sharon-Begley 60). Research will continue to grow in all of these possibilities. The
possibilities that many scientists are working on are: replacement organs- a few cells
could give what the DNA is needs to build new organs that might never wear out; new
neurons- the brain can not be replaced, but the ailing ones could be taken over by new
ones that are injected into the brain; calorie reduc-tion- calorie intake is reduced to
60 or 70 percent the preferred diet; immune system rejuvenation- aged immune cells are
removed, altered to a youthful state and reinstated to invigorate the sys-tem; super
antioxidant genes- cells that could be "coaxed" to produce another defense against
dangerous molecules that ravage the body; resetting the cellular clock- when cells have
access to a protein call telomerase, they lengthen the telomere tips of their DNA and
live indefinitely; protective hormones- growth hor-mones, estrogen, and testosterone,
while abundant when young, can help fight aging later in life; blocking blood sugar
damage- glu-cose binds protein together into a "gunk" that ruins organs, nerves, and
tissue, new drugs could prevent the blobs from form-ing (Fischer 59). With all of these
possibilities, one will change the lives of many people. All are giving people a hope and
a dream that the living people will live longer than what their parents did. Living
longer and healthier is definitely in reach for all in the future. With everything being
learned from research, a longer life expectancy average will most definitely rise.
Tech-nology will also be playing a big contributing factor. There is no doubt that
biology will reshape and help to lengthen the lives of people in the future. Gregory
Stock put it best by saying, "We'll double the human life span, but this will be a small
part of all that will happen" (Fischer 58). Immortality is a goal for many people. With
all the research being done, one is bound to let us live for as long as we choose or
until our luck runs out.