BOCA RATON - A company has quit trying to get city approval to build Florida's only cryonics facility for humans after officials repeatedly rejected the proposal.
Suspended Animation, based in Boca Raton, will likely seek a new home for its lab to freeze people's bodies and conduct experiments on rats and dogs, preferably in South Florida.
"We've basically concluded we should be looking elsewhere," CEO David Shumaker said.
Last month, the city's planning and zoning board voted 6-0 to reject the plan. The City Council is set to consider on Jan. 13 whether freezing humans is permitted by city zoning at the company's proposed lab. But several council members said they would again turn down the company's request.
"It's a dead issue," council member Susan Whelchel said.
Cryogenics gained widespread attention last year when the son of baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams had his father's body flown to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation facility in Arizona, where it was frozen.
Cryogenic supporters donate their bodies, or sometimes just their heads, for freezing in the belief that future scientific breakthroughs will allow doctors to bring them back to life or regenerate youthful bodies from DNA. Critics contend that is highly unlikely.
