Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body Rafael Capurro European Group on Ethics in Science...

Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body

Rafael CapurroEuropean Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) de la

Comisión Europea: EGE Opinion, March 16, 2005:http://europa.eu.int/comm/european_group_ethics/index_en.htm

Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas, Stuttgart, Alemania www.capurro.de Workshop de Bioética en la Universidad de Talca

24-26 de enero de 2005, Talca, Chile

Rafael Capurro: Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants 2

Overview

EGE: Tasks and OpinionsICT Implants in the Human Body:

Categorisation of implantable devices Implantable devices on the market Implantable devices under development

Ethical Aspects of ICT ImplantsEthics and Public Policy


The European Group on Ethics (EGE)

The EGE is an independent, pluralist and multitisciplinary body which advises the European Commission on ethical aspects of science and new technologies in connection with the preparation and implementation of Community legislation or policies.


EGE Members (2001-2005)

1. Prof. Göran HERMERÉN (Sweden), President, Philosopher, Professor of Medical Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University.

2. Prof. Linda NIELSEN (Denmark), Vice-President, Professor of Law, Rector of the University of Copenhagen. Prof. Nicos C. ALIVIZATOS (Greece), Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Athens. Prof. Rafael CAPURRO (Germany), Professor of Information Management and Information Ethics at University of Applied Sciences. Prof. Inez DE BEAUFORT (The Netherlands), Professor of Health Care Ethics at the Medical Faculty of the Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Prof. Yvon ENGLERT (Belgium), Head of Fertility Clinic, Free University of Brussels (ULB), Professor of Medical Ethics and Deontology, ULB. Prof. Catherine LABRUSSE-RIOU (France), Centre de recherche en droit privé, Université de Paris. Dr. Anne McLAREN (United Kingdom), Geneticist, Research Associate at Wellcome CRC Institute, Cambridge. Prof. Pere PUIGDOMÈNECH ROSELL (Spain), Research Professor at the Department for Molecular Genetics, Director of Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona, CSIC Prof. Stefano RODOTA (Italy), Professor of Civil Law, University of Rome, Chairman of the Italian Data Protection Authority, Chairman of the European Group of the Data Protection Authorities. Prof. Günter VIRT (Austria), Professor of Theology, Institute of Catholic Moral Theology, University of Vienna. Prof. Peter WHITTAKER (Ireland), Biologist, Professor of Biology, Institute of Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Lancaster, Furness College.


EGE Secretariat

Dr. Michael D. Rogers, European Commission, BERL 10/345, rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium.

EGE-Website: europa.eu.int/comm/european_group_ethics

EGE-Newsletter "Ethically Speaking": providing also information on the activities of the National Ethics Committees.


Opinions 2001-2005

Opinion n. 16 (2002)Ethical aspects of patenting inventions involving human stem cells

Opinion n. 17 (2003)Ethical aspects of clinical research in developing countries

Opinion n. 18 (2003)Ethical aspects of genetic testing in the workplace

Opinion n. 19 (2004)Ethical aspects of cord blood stem cells banks

Opinion n. 20 (2005)Ethical Aspects of ICT implants in the human body


Categorisation of ICT Implants

Implantable devices can be categorised as: medical non-medical

Both as: passive active

Reversible or non reversible Stand-alone or online ICT implants and tags


Implantable passive ICT medical devices

Most passive implants are structural devices such as artificial joints vascular implants artificial valves

Active medical implantable devices Directive 90/385/EEC


Current active medical ICT implants

Cardiovascular pacers for patients with conduction disorders or heart failure

Cochlear and brainstem implants for patients with hearing disorders Deep brain stimulation

for tremor control in patients with Parkinson's disease for essential tremor for obsessive-compulsive disorders

Implantable Neurostimulation Devices Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain management Sacral nerve stimulation for control of urinary incontinence Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for seizure control in epilepsy and mood control

in severe depression cases Implantable programmable drug delivery pumps Intrathecal administration of Baclofen for patients with Multiple Sclerosis

with severe spasticity Insulin pump for Diabetes


Future medical ICT implants

Artificial vision: Cortical implant for the blind: bypassing the non-working retina

or optic nerve BioMEMS: Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems /

Biosensors on the order of size of a human red blood cell collect data about the physiological parameters, communicate

with an external diagnostic computer system (drug release, blood analysis, recovering cancer patients…)

Direct Brain Control: BCI (Brain Computer Interfaces): BrainGate™: www.cyberkineticsinc.com

Memory BrainChip (artificial hippocambus) an implantable brain chip could restore or enhance memory


Other medical ICT implants/prostheses

The German company Otto Bock Healthcare produces prostheses like the „C-Leg“ which is a chip-controlled leg. See: http://www.ottobock.de/de


Implantable Non-Medical Devices

Passive devices: An example of a passive device is the radio frequency identification (RFID) device.

Active devices use electrical impulses to interact with the human’s nervous system.


Baja Beach Club

http://www.bajabeach.es/„Somos la primera discoteca del mundo

en ofrecer el VIP VeriChip. Mediante un chip digital integrado, nuestros VIPs pueden identificarse como tal, así como pagar sus consumiciones sin la necesidad de aportar ningún tipo de documento.“


Baja Beach Club

„El objetivo de esta tecnología es llevar un sistema de identificación a nivel mundial que anule la necesidad de llevar documento de identidad y tarjeta de crédito. El Verichip que implantaremos en el Baja, no será sólo para el Baja, también es útil para cualquier otra empresa que haga uso de esta tecnología.“


Other non-medical applications

Experiments as reported by Kevin Warwick (Department of Cybernetics,University of Reading, UK)

In Mexico (August 2004) microchips were implanted in the arms of the Fiscal General and 160 Fiscal‘s employees to control their access to a confidential documentation centre and possibly track them in case of kidnapping.



The UK Prime Minister announced (August 2004) a programme whereby the five thousand dangerous UK criminals would be „tagged“ with electronic devices and thereby „tracked“ continuously.



In the Japanese prefecture of Wakayama (Osaka) children will use RFID-labels for entering school (2004).

TraceCare (Wiesbaden, Germany) offers devices that allow to find the position of a person via internet through a Global Positioning System (GPS).



The Bavarian company Ident Technology offers tracking devices using the human body (particularly the skin) as digital data transmitter. See: http://www.ident-technology.com



Microsoft patent Number 6,754,472 June 22, 2004 concerns the human body as a medium for transmission of data (or energy) to „other devices“ like PDAs, cellular phones, medical devices, RFID, making possible to localize persons. The patent does not describe any specific device.


Future personal tracking devices

Integration and miniaturization of three technologies: www.digitalangel.com Biosensor: read a person‘s vital signs by touching the

skin (implanted into a wristwatch) Pager device: takes the data from the biosensor by

using a cellular packet module Position location technology: using radio signal to stay

in contact with a person‘s pager device-> this information is sent through cellular data packets to

a data centre (Digital Angel™)-> The first Digital Angel was launched in November 2001-> Medical emergency purposes-> Identification/Location purposes


Legal Background

Universal Declaration of Human Rights EU Charter of Fundamental Rights of 2000 Convention on Human Rigts and Biomedicine of

the Council of Europe EU Directives European Constitution, National Constitutions

-> providing that the human body and its parts shall not give rise to financial gain (Principle of human dignity)


Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants

Anthropological background: The unity of biological and psychic (intellectual,

emotional) functions The body and the environment Social aspects Creativity, cultural aspects

Some characteristics of ICT devices: Chips (silicon, bio-chips) algorithms



Fundamental ethical principles: Human Dignity Privacy (data protection) Autonomy Confidentiality

Ethical conflict(s): to reduce freedom and autonomy vs. Increase health, security…



In case of medical applications:Prohibition of eugenic practicesRespect of the informed consent of the

patientProhibition of making the human body and

its parts a source of financial gain



In case of non-medical applications: Privacy and surveillance Exclusionary practices Practices of domination Practices of privacy invasion

-> How far will ICT Implants (and tags) enlarge our individual and social choices and how far will they create a situation of social discrimination?



In case of enhancement(s) What does it mean to „enhace“ human beings? What does „perfectibility“ mean? Are ICT enhancements necessarily a new form

of racism? -> the „post-human“ debate How clear is the distinction between therapeutic

applications and enhancements?


Ethics and Public Policy: Historical Roots

The relation between ethics, law, and public policy has a long tradition in Western thought and practice going back to Plato’s “Nomoi” (722d) where he stresses the importance of “introductions” (proimia) that should used in order to make laws more understandable and acceptable to the citizens. Aristotle makes a difference between individual and political virtues. Political and legal practice are supposed to rest on ethical counselling on the basis of morality (ethos).


Ethics and Public Policy: Historical Roots

Since Modernity, and particularly since Thomas Hobbes, there is not just a difference but a split between morality, law and public policy.

Since Hegel through Pierce and Rorty there is a (pragmatic) search for overcoming it.

Today’s mass media and particularly the internet have created new forms of mediation without eliminating the differences.


Ethics and Public Policy: Ethics Councils

Ethics councils within the sphere of public policy have the function of reflecting on the moral and legal foundations of specific controversial issues without being itself neither a legal nor a moral authority.

Their task is reflection, not decision-making or dogmatic proclamation.



They should counterbalance ethical arguments and give an opinion on matters that remain controversial and subject to revision.

Today’s public policy has a need for such counsels particularly with regard to new developments in science and technology.



Of course, such ethics bodies are not unproblematic not only concerning their legitimating body – in some cases it is the parliament, in other cases the executive –, but also with regard to possible controversial standpoints that may differ with present laws and/or directives.



In other words, it is important that such bodies are politically independent, pluralist, and multidisciplinary and that they view themselves not just as guarantee of an established morality or of current law, but as a critical space where an open debate on legally and morally controversial issues can take place.



Although they might look for consensual opinions, consensus should not be a conditio sine qua non of their proposals. It is also not their function to make public policy ‘more moral,’ but to encourage ethical reflection within the public sphere.



Most European and non-European national and international ethics committees have been created in the nineties.

UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC) was created in 1993. The Steering Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe dates from 1992.

US President George W. Bush created The President’s Council on Bioethics on the basis of the Executive Order 13237 from November 28, 2001 (http://www.bioethics.gov/).

Most national and international ethics committees are in fact (until now) committees on bioethics. The EGE is the first international committee with a broader scope.


Ethics and Public Policy: Further Reading

Rafael Capurro:

- Ethics and Public Policy within a Digital Environment. In: I. Alvarez, T. W. Bynum, J.A. de Assis Lopes, S. Rogerson (Eds.): The Transformation of Organisations in the Information Age: Social and Ethical Implications, ETHICOMP 2002, Lisboa 2002, 319-327. Online: http://www.capurro.de/ethicomp02.html

- Ethics Between Law and Public Policy. In: Journal of International Biotechnology Laws (JIBL) Vol. 1, Issue 2 / 2004, 62-66.Online: http://www.degruyter.de/rs/280_7046_DEU_h.htm

- Ethik in Europa zwischen Forschung und Politik. In: Wissenschaftszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen ed. Jahrbuch 2002/2003, 200-211.

- Online: http://www.capurro.de/wznrw.html


¡GRACIAS POR SU ATENCIÓN!

Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body Rafael Capurro European Group on Ethics in Science...

Documents

Transcript of Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body Rafael Capurro European Group on Ethics in Science...