by William Neikirk

You can be sure that the sexuality of older Americans will become a bigger issue now that Jane Fonda is showing interest in the subject.

Last week, the 69-year-old actress told reporters at an aging seminar in New York that she plans to write a book dealing partly with the sexuality of aging, and also let it be known she is interested in making a movie on the topic.

Her book is actually about another chapter in her life, and the working title is: "The Third Act: Entering Prime Time," she said. Her last book, she reminded us, was a best seller.

A group of reporters attending the week-long seminar, sponsored by the International Longevity Center-USA and the New York Times Foundation, were surprised when Fonda showed up for their sessions to learn more about aging issues in the U.S.

She came for a couple of days and asked good questions on some complex scientific issues, such as the senescence of human cells and whether the life expectancy of people can be extended with new breakthroughs.

Fonda was down-to-earth and seemed committed to increasing education about aging. She said women are better at building social networks over a lifetime and are better prepared to face challenges of aging than men, who tend to be competitive.

At one break, I told her about watching the movie "China Syndrome," about a potential meltdown at a nuclear plant (in which she was the star), only to find myself dashing off to Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania shortly thereafter to cover the real thing—and how eerie that felt.

"It was two weeks after," she said, adding that even to this day she gets criticized for being responsible for bringing a halt to growth in the nuclear power industry. Such charges are unfair, she said.

Back to aging, the center, headed by president and chief executive, Robert Butler, feels that its work is beginning to come of age as the Baby Boom population nears the early retirement age of 62. As the population grows older, a plethora of public policy questions will arise.

Can Alzheimer's Disease be conquered? Can new therapies arise that prolong human life significantly? Will the rising number of aging people bankrupt us or provide a new source of economic wealth?

As the population ages, the birth rate across the world is also declining--another big issue. As the number of older people grow, the number of younger people could be shrinking.

Butler, who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on aging a few years ago, believes that a greater investment in aging research will more than pay for itself, and he favors a $3 billion program to do just that.

Now, it doesn't seem to be at the top of Congress' priority list, but it could be with the passing of time and a growth in the ranks of older people like Jane Fonda.