Editing Life extension (section)

{{Short description|Concept of extending human lifespan by improvements in medicine or biotechnology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Human enhancement sidebar|all}}
'''Life extension''' is the concept of extending the human [[life expectancy|lifespan]], either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the [[maximum lifespan]] beyond its generally-settled biological limit of [[Oldest people|around 125 years]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Turner BS |title=Can We Live Forever? A Sociological and Moral Inquiry |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2009 |page=3}}</ref> Several researchers in the area, along with "life extensionists", "[[Immortality|immortalists]]", or "[[Longevity|longevists]]" (those who wish to achieve longer lives themselves), postulate that future breakthroughs in tissue [[rejuvenation (aging)|rejuvenation]], [[stem cell]]s, [[regenerative medicine]], [[molecular]] repair, [[gene therapy]], pharmaceuticals, and [[organ (anatomy)|organ]] replacement (such as with artificial organs or [[xenotransplantation]]s) will eventually enable humans to have indefinite lifespans through complete rejuvenation to a healthy youthful condition (agerasia<ref>{{OED|agerasia}}</ref>). The ethical ramifications, if life extension becomes a possibility, are debated by [[bioethicists]].

The sale of purported anti-aging products such as supplements and hormone replacement is a lucrative global industry. For example, the industry that promotes the use of hormones as a treatment for consumers to slow or reverse the [[aging]] process in the US market generated about $50&nbsp;billion of revenue a year in 2009.<ref name="AMA" /> The use of such hormone products has not been proven to be effective or safe.<ref name="AMA" /><ref name="Holliday">{{cite journal | vauthors = Holliday R | title = The extreme arrogance of anti-aging medicine | journal = Biogerontology | volume = 10 | issue = 2 | pages = 223–228 | date = April 2009 | pmid = 18726707 | doi = 10.1007/s10522-008-9170-6 | s2cid = 764136 }}</ref><ref name="PositionStatement" /><ref name="EMBOSENS">{{cite journal | vauthors = Warner H, Anderson J, Austad S, Bergamini E, Bredesen D, Butler R, Carnes BA, Clark BF, Cristofalo V, Faulkner J, Guarente L, Harrison DE, Kirkwood T, Lithgow G, Martin G, Masoro E, Melov S, Miller RA, Olshansky SJ, Partridge L, Pereira-Smith O, Perls T, Richardson A, Smith J, von Zglinicki T, Wang E, Wei JY, Williams TF | display-authors = 6 | title = Science fact and the SENS agenda. What can we reasonably expect from ageing research? | journal = EMBO Reports | volume = 6 | issue = 11 | pages = 1006–1008 | date = November 2005 | pmid = 16264422 | pmc = 1371037 | doi = 10.1038/sj.embor.7400555 }}</ref>