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In 2002 it was reported that legendary Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams had been placed in cryonic suspension.

That means that, upon being declared legally dead, Mr. Williams' body was specially treated and cooled to temperatures where physical decay essentially stops, and that he will be maintained in that state until such time as future medical science is able to restore him to good health.

Cryonics is an emerging new technology, and although most newspapers and news sites have discussed it fairly in relation to the Ted Williams story, a few reports have included information about cryonics that is not entirely accurate or correct.

To help journalists researching for information about cryonics as it relates to this case, and to help people who may be visiting our site for the first time because of the interest generated by the Ted Williams story, we'd like to provide brief replies to a few of the most-asked questions or misunderstandings about this case that we have received.

Q: Was Ted Williams really stored in liquid nitrogen?

The Cryonics Institute has a strict policy never to discuss the names of its members of patients unless we have their explicit permission to do so. Ted Williams was reportedly suspended by a cryonics organization called Alcor, and Alcor has a similar policy of confidentiality. Alcor officials initially reiterated that policy when questioned by reporters. Under pressure from the courts, however, Alcor was eventually forced to release documents in its possession pertaining to Ted Williams.

Q: Did Ted Williams' son do this so he could sell samples of his father's DNA for cloning?

We do not know the full facts or motivations behind the Williams case, but as for the "cloning" idea in general, it makes no sense to spend thousands of dollars cryopreserving an entire person when a simple skin tissue sample or even a few hairs may be sufficient to preserve a person's DNA. As for 'selling cells' for human cloning when no human being has never as yet been cloned -- well, it seems to us there must be easier ways to make money.

It is true that the Cryonics Institute does offer a DNA sample tissue service for members - you can learn more about it by clicking here -- but at a cost of only $98 dollars (for the sampling kit and processing). Yearly Membership itself costs only $120 in annual dues, or a one-time $1,250 fee for Lifetime membership.

But as far as selling tissue samples of patients goes, that is a violation of both CI policy and common-sense ethical behavior, and it is simply not done.

Q: Isn't cryonics just a money-making scam?

No. CI as an organization is exceptionally stable and financially secure, having been in business for over a quarter of a century, and it does have total assets that number approximately two million dollars. But those profits go into the company, not into private individual's pockets. Money is directed to securing our current patients, and into developing better care for our future patients, not to personal profit.

Q: Isn't it true that cryonics is completely un-medical and unscientific?

If anything, the opposite is the case. For example, the Cryonics Institute's Director of Research, Dr. Yuri Pichugin, was a PhD cryobiologist with over twenty years' experience, who was trained and educated at the largest cryobiological institute in the world, the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine at Kharkov. Dr. Pichugin has published thirty-six professional articles in peer-reviewed journals throughout the course of his career, and has recently collaborated with specialists at Harvard Medical School on a case involving cryobiology as it relates to the problem of children's epilepsy. The Cryonics Institute also has a policy of having its procedures checked by independent university-based and corporate laboratories, and of making its test results publicly available to the lay and medical reader.

(See Scientific Justification for Cryonics Procedures)

Q: Is it true that no reputable doctor or scientist supports cryonics?

Again, no. The Cryonics Institute, along with other cryonics organizations like Alcor and Trans Time, has numerous medical doctors and scientists among its members. In fact, the percentage of doctors who have become cryonics members is several times the percentage of doctors making up the general public. A search of our web site will even lead interested readers to several articles on cryonics by medical doctors who have signed up to undergo the procedure themselves.

The fact is, some of the most prestigious modern American scientists both advocate cryonics and signed up for cryonics themselves – scientists such as Dr. Eric Drexler, the father of nanotechnology, MIT's Dr. Marvin Minsky, the founder of artificial intelligence research in the United States, Dr. Ralph Merkle of Xerox PARC and Zyvex, among many others. (See Scientists' Open Letter on Cryonics)

Q: How many people are in suspension now? And how many are signed up for it?

Over two hundred people have been cryopreserved since cryonics was founded by CI President Robert Ettinger's best-selling book, The Prospect Of Immortality. There are currently over a thousand members world-wide.

Q: Are people really frozen naked in blocks of ice to –321 degrees Fahrenheit?

No, patients are perfused with antifreeze compound and then gradually cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature, which is –321 degrees Fahrenheit (–196 degrees Celsius), and then placed "in suspension" (in modest protective covering, much like a sleeping bag) in liquid nitrogen in a thermos-bottle type of container (CryoStat or Dewar). "Suspension" is a reference to "suspended animation" (the goal of cryoprotectant research, and one we are still a long way from attaining), not to "floating" (a human body in a sleeping bag is more dense than liquid nitrogen).

Q: Isn't cryonics incredibly expensive, and only for the rich?

Far from being expensive, cryonics is one of the most affordable health care options available. Although some organizations do charge quite a lot of money, the majority of those funds are not directed to medical care, but to provide an extra-wide financial safety cushion for patients. A more realistic assessment, plus cost-saving advances in liquid nitrogen storage, has allowed the Cryonics Institute to offer whole-body suspension for only $28,000. This does not mean that members have to pay $28,000 cash in one lump sum, although they may do so if they wish – it means that it is possible to arrange to have a life insurance policy pay CI upon the member's death.

By using insurance funding, a member of average age in moderate good health may have to pay only as little as ten or so dollars a month for an insurance policy that completely covers his suspension costs, and protects him in case of accident or emergency.

Q: How can I find out more?

Read our web site. It is generally conceded to be the most information-packed cryonics site on the internet, and either contains, or links to, virtually every source of information about cryonics that there is. We particularly suggest you begin with our FAQ, which expands on many of the subjects mentioned here.

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Email us at: cryonics@cryonics.org

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