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Brain-Zapping Gadgets Need Regulation, Say Scientists (ieee.org)
the_newsbeagle writes: You can now buy gadgets online that send electric current through your scalp to stimulate your brain. Why would you want to do that? Because the easy technique, called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), is being investigated as a treatment for depression, a rehab aid for stroke patients, a learning enhancer for healthy people, and for many other neuropsychiatric applications.
However, the technique is so new that companies selling brain-zapping gadgets aren't bound by any regulations, and experts are worried that consumers will end up buying devices that aren't safe or simply aren't effective. So scientists and some manufacturers recently got together to discuss the scope of the problem, and what can be done about it.
Earlier IEEE reported that "Professional basketball, baseball, and American football teams are also experimenting with it," adding that some Olympic athletes, including sprinters and swimmers, even used a premarket version of one brain-zapping device to prepare for the Olympics in Rio.
However, the technique is so new that companies selling brain-zapping gadgets aren't bound by any regulations, and experts are worried that consumers will end up buying devices that aren't safe or simply aren't effective. So scientists and some manufacturers recently got together to discuss the scope of the problem, and what can be done about it.
Earlier IEEE reported that "Professional basketball, baseball, and American football teams are also experimenting with it," adding that some Olympic athletes, including sprinters and swimmers, even used a premarket version of one brain-zapping device to prepare for the Olympics in Rio.
Worries about safety, and actual danger are not the same thing.
"Worries about safety" is not the real issue. The real issue is control and money. Doctors see informed patients as a big threat, and are trying hard to position themselves as gatekeepers to treatment, so they can collect tolls. I was listening to an NPR program discussing direct-to-consumer DNA sequencing services like 23andMe. They had a spokesperson from the AMA, who argued vociferously that these services should be banned, and only doctors should have access to this information, so they could "interpret" the results for their patients, who were obviously incapable of thinking for themselves.