Monday, September 29, 2003

A promising new treatment, and a need to set the rules
Philadelphia Inquirer story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Do a Google search on the words implant and mind control and you'll get about 100,000 hits, a virtual primer on conspiracy theories and science-fiction nightmares. So it's no surprise that when the University of Pennsylvania announced that one of its scientists was perfecting an implant that could provide a year's worth of medication for people with severe mental illness, it was met in some quarters with distrust. David Oaks, executive director of Support Coalition International, which questions the dominant view that mental illnesses are biological at base, for example, calls the device 'inherently coercive.' Aware of the concerns, the university took the unusual step last week of inviting representatives of consumer-advocacy groups to a symposium on the ethical implications of the implants well before they are ready for marketing." See also the related item posted here last week.