Support for research into cellular aging is growing as poll by The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives demonstrates.

A new national poll of registered voters in the United States shows that the majority of respondents would use pharmaceutical intervention to target cellular aspects of aging if the drugs or therapies were safe, effective, affordable and available to all. This trend was true for members of both political parties, with 74% of Democrats and 62% of Republicans reporting that they would use these therapies.

The poll, which was conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives (A4LI), also found that Democrats (79%) and Republicans (59%) support research into cellular aging. This process has been identified by researchers to be the root cause of many chronic and often-fatal diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and others. Aging and age-related diseases cause about 70% of daily deaths.

Longevity.Technology: The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives was founded with the goal of creating social and political action around the issues of combating age-related chronic conditions and increasing the number of healthy, disease-free years we experience; in a nutshell, they are all about advancing legislation and policies that aim to increase healthy human lifespan. A4LI works with healthcare leaders and experts in the geroscience and regenerative medicine fields to ensure the initiatives they pursue are the right steps to accomplish its goal. Ultimately, they would like to see governments around the world prioritise keeping their citizens in excellent health for much longer, and to that end they have conducted a poll that demonstrates public support for research into tackling aging at a cellular level.

Respondents identified a number of priority areas on which they feel the government should focus, including improving the health of citizens, combating climate change, eliminating poverty and reducing the national debt.

However, as A4LI points out, an improvement in a person’s expected healthspan – the length of a person’s life during which they are in generally good health – would not only enhance health outcomes, but have wide-reaching benefits for society.

Healthier, longer lives could raise the age of retirement and reduce medical debt – the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US – in addition to having positive implications for social safety net programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and providing a boost to the overall economy. A4LI works to educate policymakers on the widespread benefits of this innovative field and address current barriers in longevity science.

Key takeaways from the poll

• 70% of respondents believe human lifespan should continue to increase if advancements in medicine and technology allow it to do so.
• 69% of respondents support medical research that seeks to treat the cellular aging process as a means to prevent or delay the contemporaneous onset of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s or dementia, heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
• 50% of respondents agree that because treating cellular aging has the potential to cure so many deadly, chronic diseases at once, increasing government funding for medical research to treat aging should be a priority for the US government.
• 68% of respondents would take drugs and therapies that target aspects of aging if they were safe, affordable, effective, available to all and caused no side effects.

“We’re excited to see that so many Americans share our view of the importance of promoting better, longer lives for our citizens,” said A4LI Founder & President Dylan Livingston. “Longevity science is advancing rapidly, and it’s vital that policymakers ensure that the US is ready to benefit from the coming wave of innovation [1].”

The full results of the poll are available online.