"If we can keep a severed head alive...".

not be a matter for criticism. The aim of the new society is to provide an alternative to the existing bodies, not to replace them, and nor is it to disadvantage any other elements of the profession. In his review of my book (3 September, p 629) Professor T J Hamblin stated, "In [Fleming's] view a device to perfuse a human head might lead to horrific consequences, and so he has developed a fiendish plan to prevent one being developed." That is incorrect. As stated in the book, the technology for perfusing a severed head has important potential advantages, for research and for prolonging life in a conscious and communicative state with, probably, less pain than many dying people suffer today. The difficult question is whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and dangers. Therefore, instead of trying to stop this research, I proposed a system where any scientist or surgeon who wants to try the experiment in America, on either animals or humans, will need to consult three independent review panels that already exist at every university: animal care committees, which control experiments on animals; institutional review boards, which must approve experiments on human subjects ; and institutional biosafety committees, which control genetic engineering experiments. Some review panels are likely to approve such proposals, since perfusing intact heads will allow researchers to study the brain and sensory organs in ways that cannot be accomplished otherwise. This strategy will force the issues up to the surface for open debate, moderated and judged by impartial experts who have nothing to gain personally from the research. The reviewer also suggested that only one experiment had been done to keep a severed head alive. In fact, many such experiments have been reported in scientific journals. In the experiments by White et al transplanted monkey heads remained fully conscious for 36 hours.' They died because of heparin overuse, a problem which can be overcome today using an extracorporeal heparin remover. Research is being done today on intact brains which continue to generate brain waves after the sensory organs and the skull have been cut away. It is far more difficult to obtain a prophetic patent in America than Professor Hamblin suggests. Such patents usually must be limited to mechanical systems, since mechanical components are more predictable than chemical reactions or experimental drugs. Every component must be publicly available and the inventor must describe explicitly how …