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Non-Invasive Neuromodulation of the Central Nervous System Opportunities and Challenges: Workshop Summary (2015) / Chapter Skim
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7 Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues
Pages 49-56

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From page 49...
... NOTE: The points in this list were made by the individual speakers identified above; they are not intended to reflect a consensus among workshop participants. Ethics in the context of neuromodulation extends far beyond what Aristotle would have recognized as classical ethics issues in his day, said Hank Greely.
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From page 50...
... ENHANCEMENT VERSUS TREATMENT Parens said that the distinction between treatment and enhancement is abstract and fuzzy, and also unavoidable and potentially useful if we're trying to articulate what, for example, should go into a basic package of medical care. Since the 1990s, enhancement has been defined in contrast with treatment, where treatment restores normal functioning and enhancement produces something better than normal functioning.
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From page 51...
... Farah suggested that we do not have either the necessary experience or a firm grasp of mechanism. Roi Cohen Kadosh noted that further study is needed on the longterm safety of neurostimulation and the impact of neurostimulation on the developing brain.
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From page 52...
... An additional concern raised by several participants is that devices marketed for enhancement to well-being are not currently regulated as medical devices either in Europe or the United States, and are subject to general, non-specific safety requirements. Hannah Maslen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ethics at the Oxford Center for Neuroethics, showed some examples of the claims manufacturers are making about their devices.
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From page 53...
... FREEDOM/COERCION/INVOLUNTARY USE Involuntary or coercive uses of non-invasive neuromodulation, applied for the purpose of changing behavior or gaining compliance with socially accepted norms, present additional complex ethical challenges, although data supporting these uses are sparse, according to Jennifer Chandler, professor of law at the University of Ottawa. One recent paper showed that application of tACS to the right DLPFC reduced aggressive behavior in men (Dambacher et al., 2015)
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From page 54...
... . Anna Wexler, a doctoral student in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said she is also doing research on the DIY community using qualitative, in-depth interviews.
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From page 55...
... However, other participants raised potential issues of liability. Greely took this one step further, asking to what extent scientists doing their research should think about the possible downstream negative effects, including nefarious or unsafe use by the DIY community.
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Key Terms

  • diy community
  • normal functioning
  • ethical concerns
  • bright biological
  • reddit tdcs

  • tdcs forum
  • brain stimulation
  • biological line
  • basic package
  • reduced aggressive

  • prefrontal cortex
  • single treatment
  • own research
  • spans ethical
  • rapidly expanding

  • expert commentary
  • publication bias
  • farah noted
  • considering social
  • diy tdcs

  • participants strongly
  • common rule
  • devices marketed
  • farah suggested
  • postdoctoral research

  • natural sciences
  • physical performance
  • potentially useful
  • fairly homogeneous
  • developing brain


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