Sarah Harper, Director of the Oxford Institute of Ageing, presented latest demographic data on population ageing worldwide pointing out that it was a global phenomenon which currently affected Latin America and Asia stronger than Western Europe and America. Current UN population projections assume that in the year 2050 three quarters of the world’s countries will be faced with a 60+ aged population, the only exception being sub-Saharan Africa and a few select countries in Asia. The reasons for population ageing are not so much due to increased longevity but to falling fertility in most countries. In Asia and Latin America the effect is dramatic. While Europe took about 150 years to transform from a predominantly young into a predominantly old society, Latin America and Asia will undergo this change in the next 20 – 25 years with dramatic impact on pensions, the structure of the work place and social security systems.

Lynne Cox, University Lecturer in Biochemistry, explained current research strategies to find the genetic drivers of ageing which might eventually help to slow the ageing process, not to live longer per se but to live longer healthier and to slow down the onset of age-related morbidities. Yet, studying ageing is a complex task as it is compounded by genetic as well as lifestyle differences. Very interesting results have come out of researching genetic defective conditions such as Progeria and Werner-Syndrome, which both lead to premature ageing. In both cases it is defects in gene expression that give rise to these morbid conditions. Latest research shows that in the case of Werner-Syndrome gene therapy approaches may help to target the expression of the defective protein. In the case of Progeria the most promising advances have been made in the field of inhibiting the expression of the defective protein through drugs. Another interesting area of research is caloric restriction, whereby it has been demonstrated that lab animals when fed about 70 per cent of their normal caloric intake, lived longer and healthier. This, in Dr Cox’s view demonstrates that ides of a fixed “lifespan” need to be rethought and that, in fact lifespan and health-span are malleable and can be altered by genes, dietary modulation or drugs. So, in her view it was time to think of ageing as a treatable condition that should be treated.

Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, argued that mankind had a moral duty to strive for a longer and better life. In his view the common argument that man had an obligation to die in order to hand over the world to the next generation could not be substantiated by empirical evidence. In fact, surveys among the aged show that longer life does not automatically decrease life satisfaction. So, in his opinion it was time to declare a “war on ageing”. Building on Dr Cox’s presentation which showed that the human lifespan can be prolonged through interventions at the molecular as well as the life-style level, he put forward the argument that ageing research was woefully underfunded and it was crucial to change people’s perception in understanding ageing as a treatable condition and not as an inevitable fate.