Der vernetzte Mensch.Ethische Aspekte von ICT- Implantaten im menschlichen Körper

Rafael CapurroHochschule der Medien (Stuttgart)

www.capurro.de 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

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Übersicht

The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE)

ICT-Implantate Ethische Aspekte

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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. 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. 

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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_ethics 

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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ICT-Implantate 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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Implantate für medizinische Zwecke

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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Aktive medizinische ICT- Implantate 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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Künftige medizinische Anwendungen 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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The Dobelle Institute (Portugal)www.artificialvision.com

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Weitere medizinische Anwendungen

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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Nicht-medizinische Anwendungen

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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Baja Beach Club

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„Human bar coding“ The VeriChip™ What?

RFID=Radio Frequency Identification Device

Passive ID tag Contains an unique ID number

How does it work? Energized by a scanner (RF) Emits a radio signal Transmits ID number to a

Database via phone or Internet

Current applications (FDA approval in 2004)

Medical records (blood type, potencial allergies, medical history)

Personal information Financial information

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The VeriChip™ VeriChip™ is a subdermal, radio frequency identification

(RFID) device, about the size of a grain of rice. This technology, developed by Applied Digital Solutions (ADS), one US-based company, has been used in animals for years and seems fairly harmless.

Extending the use to the human population is the next step.

The idea for employing the tags to identify humans came after the horror of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

The chip is an ID tag which is passive (not independently powered). When radio-frequency energy passes from a scanner, it energizes the chip, and which then emits a radio-frequency signal transmitting the chip's information to the reader, which in turn links with a database.

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Weitere nicht-medizinische Anwendungen 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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Weitere nicht-medizinische Anwendungen

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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Weitere nicht-medizinische Anwendungen

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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Weitere nicht-medizinische Anwendungen

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

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Weitere nicht-medizinische Anwendungen

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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„Digital angel“ 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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Rechtlicher Hintergrund: Menschenwürde 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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Ethische Aspekte

Anthropologischer Hintergrund: Die Einheit von biologischen und

psychischen Funktionen Körper/Leib und Umwelt Soziale Aspekte Kulturelle Aspekte

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Ethische Aspekte Grundlegende ethische Prinzipien:

Menschenwürde Privatheit Autonomie Vertraulichkeit

Ethische Konflikte: Freiheit vs. Sicherheit; Gesundheit vs. Überwachung…

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Ethische Aspekte

Bei medizinischen Anwendungen: Verbot von eugenischen Praktiken Einwilligung des Patienten

(„informed consent“) Kein Profit mit dem menschlichen

Körper oder mit Teilen des menschlichen Körpers

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Ethische Aspekte

Bei nicht-medizinischen Anwendungen: Strikte (rechtliche) Einschränkung Praktiken des Ausschlusses Praktiken der Beherrschung Praktiken der Überwachung-> Wie weit führen ICT-Implantaten zu

einer Überwachungsgesellschaft bzw. wie weit erweitern sie menschliche Freiheit?

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Ethische Aspekte

Läßt sich die menschliche Natur „verbessern“? Was bedeutet „verbessern“? Was bedeutet „Perfektibilität“? Führen ICT-Implantate zu neuen Formen

von Rassismus? Die „post-human“ Debatte. Wo liegt die Grenze zwischen

therapeutischen und nicht-therapeutischen Anwendungen?

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Weiterführende Literatur EGE Opinion No. 20:„Ethical Aspects on ICT Implants in the Human

Body“, March 16, 2005:http://europa.eu.int/comm/european_group_ethics/index_en.htm EGE Roundtable Debate on Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the

Human Body, December 21, 2004:http://europa.eu.int/comm/european_group_ethics/index_en.htm

Zum Verhältnis zwischen Ethik, Forschung und Politik vgl. v.Vf.: 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