Ethical Aspects of ICT
Implants in the Human Body
Rafael Capurro
European 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
Overview
EGE: Tasks and Opinions
ICT Implants in the Human Body:
Categorisation of implantable devices
Implantable devices on the market
Implantable devices under development
Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants
Ethics and Public Policy
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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.
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EGE Members (2001-2005)
1.
2.
Prof. Göran HERMERÉN (Sweden), President, Philosopher, Professor of Medical Ethics, Faculty
of Medicine, Lund University.
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.
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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_ethi
cs
EGE-Newsletter "Ethically Speaking":
providing also information on the activities
of the National Ethics Committees.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.“
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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.“
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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.
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Other non-medical applications
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.
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Other non-medical applications
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).
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Other non-medical applications
The Bavarian company Ident Technology
offers tracking devices using the human
body (particularly the skin) as digital data
transmitter. See: http://www.identtechnology.com
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Other non-medical applications
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.
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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
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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)
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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
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Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants
Fundamental ethical principles:
Human Dignity
Privacy (data protection)
Autonomy
Confidentiality
Ethical conflict(s): to reduce freedom and
autonomy vs. Increase health, security…
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Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants
In case of medical applications:
Prohibition of eugenic practices
Respect of the informed consent of the
patient
Prohibition of making the human body and
its parts a source of financial gain
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Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants
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?
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Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants
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?
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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).
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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.
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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 decisionmaking or dogmatic proclamation.
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Ethics and Public Policy: Ethics Councils
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.
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Ethics and Public Policy: Ethics Councils
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.
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Ethics and Public Policy: Ethics Councils
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.
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Ethics and Public Policy: Ethics Councils
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.
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Ethics and Public Policy: Ethics Councils
 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.
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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
-
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¡GRACIAS POR SU ATENCIÓN!
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