Public should get mind drugs - professor
Monday June 22nd, 2009
A British medical ethicist has called for the public to have access to mind-enhancing drugs, such as Ritalin.
According to Professor John Harris, of Manchester University, it would be "unethical" to stop healthy people taking the drug to enhance mental performance.
Writing for the British Medical Journal he said: "it is not rational to be against human enhancement".
Professor Harris, director of the university's institute for science, ethics and innovation, argues that: "Humans are creatures that result from an enhancement process called evolution and moreover are inveterate self-improvers in every conceivable way."
He compares taking Ritalin with the installation of electric lighting - "synthetic sunshine" - which carried unknown risks for humanity.
His views have angered neurology Professor Anjan Chatterjee, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Writing for the same journal, Professor Chatterjee warned that pilots, the police and on-call doctors could end up being pressurised to take drugs to boost their performance and keep them awake.
And among ambitious and wealthy families, children in private schools could end up taking drugs in "epidemic proportions", he warned.
Professor Chatterjee writes: "Being smarter does not mean being wiser."
British Medical Journal on-line June 19 2009
Tags: Brain & Neurology | General Health | North America | UK News
Printer friendly page