Extending the human lifespan is a multibillion-pound industry and has been hailed as the most fascinating scientific challenge in modern history. But if a drug to achieve longevity is ever discovered, one thing looks certain: it is highly unlikely to work on women – and almost inconceivable that it will work on mothers.
That is because, say experts, cages in laboratories across the world are filled with white mice who share a striking similarity: they are all male.
This is a serious problem, said Dr Steven Austad, a biologist and the author of the bestselling Methuselah’s Zoo, because the sex differences between rodents are significant – and the differences between virgin female mice and mice that have given birth are even larger.
About 75% of the drugs that extend lifespan in mice work only on males: the drugs were developed on male mice then belatedly tested on both sexes, only to discover the females did not respond.
Not just ageing either. The reason that a lot of medications say not to take if you are pregnant is not because they studied it and determined that it could be dangerous. It’s because they didn’t bother to study it at all.
A lot of studies will choose to only study men because women are likely to have periods, get pregnant, etc. You know, normal human life.
And it should surprise no one that it’s mostly white people, too.
When designing safety features like seat belts or safety harnesses: “Women have these weird anatomical quirks, seems complicated, let’s just ignore it.”