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24 T. M. Cooley L. Rev. 81 (2007)
Should There Be a Law - Brain Chips: Ethical and Policy Issues

handle is hein.journals/tmclr24 and id is 87 raw text is: SHOULD THERE BE A LAW? BRAIN CHIPS: ETHICAL AND POLICY ISSUES ELLEN M. MCGEE* I. INTRODUCTION In November 2006, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan advocated the creation of global safeguards to control the dangers inherent in biotechnologies.' Francis Fukuyama and Franco Furger have recently proposed a new approach to regulating human biotechnologies Yet these initiatives are primarily concerned with controlling reprogenetics and forms of biological terrorism.3 They do not address the need to manage the risks inherent in new developments in the field of bioelectronics: brain implants that involve creating interfaces between neural systems and computers.4 Regulation in this field is imperative because, in the not-so-distant future, we will probably witness the emergence of humans who are essentially coupled with bioelectronic devices-science fiction's cyborgs. Innovations in semiconductor devices, cognitive science, bioelectronics, nanotechnology, and applied neural-control technologies are facilitating breakthroughs in these hybrids of humans and machines.5 This melding of the organic and non-organic when employed for patients with sensory, motor, or cognitive deficits is admirable, allowing those who are deaf, blind, * Ellen M. McGee received her Ph.D. from Fordham University and taught Philosophy and Medical Ethics for over twenty-five years as an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at C.W. Post College of Long Island University. She founded and is Director Emerita of The Long Island Center for Ethics. Presently, she provides in- service ethics education and writes and lectures on ethical issues in enhancement, hospice ethics, suicide intervention, and reproductive technologies. 1. U.N. Leader Urges Biotech Safeguards, N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 19, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/world/19annan.html?ex=1 321592400&en=727 0c39d9d 1020e4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss#. 2. FRANCIS FUKUYAMA & FRANCO FURGER, BEYOND BIOETHICS: A PROPOSAL FOR MODERNIZING THE REGULATION OF HUMAN BIOTECHNOLOGIES 37, available at http://biotechgov.org. This site allows the reader to request the URL from the authors. 3. See id. at 1-24. 4. See id, at41. 5. See generally John P. Donoghue, Connecting Cortex to Machines: Recent Advances in Brain Interfaces, 5 NATURE NEUROSCIENCE 1085 (2002), available at http://www.nature.com/neuro/j oumalv5/n11s/pdf/nn947.pdf. Recent technological advances will possibly lead to the creation of brain-machine-interface systems, which will provide a control signal that restores natural movement of paralyzed body parts. Id. at 1088.

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