Sophisticated and deadly brain weapons “that can attack human consciousness, perception, memory or behavior are no longer the stuff of science fiction, two British cliff actions.
Michael Crowley and Malcolm Dano, of Bradford University, are close to publish a book which they believe should be a wake-up call to the world.
They are traveling this weekend The Hague for a key meeting of stateswhich argues that the human mind is a new front in the war and there must be urgent global action to stop the weapon of neuroscience.
“It’s like science fiction,” Crowley said. “The tragedy is that it has become a scientific fact.”
The book, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, explores how neuroscience, pharmacology and artificial intelligence have evolved to create a new threat.
“We’re entering an era where the brain itself can become a battlefield,” Crowley said. “The tools to manipulate the central nervous system – to remove, confuse or force – will be more precise, more attractive and more attractive to states.”
The book traces the fascinating, if dismal, history of state-sponsored research into the central nervous system (CNS)-Acticks.
During the cold war and after, the US, Soviet Union and China were all “actively looking” to develop CNS-acting weapons, Crowley said. Their purpose is to cause long-term uselessness in people, including “loss of consciousness or sedation or hallucination or difficulty or recognition and difficulty”.
The only time the CNS-acting weapon was used on the scale of the Russian Federation was in 2002 to end the siege of the Moscow Theater. Security forces used derivatives of FENTANYL to end the siege, in which armed Chechen militants took 900 hostages.
Most of the hostages were released, but more than 120 died from the effects of the chemical agents and an unspecified number suffered long-term injuries or died prematurely.
Since then, research has made significant progress. Academics argue that the ability exists far beyond “sophisticated and targeted” weapons that could be unimaginable.
Dano said: “The same knowledge that helps us to treat neurological diseases can be used to break down cognition, or even in future people with bad agents.”
The threat is “real and growing” but there are gaps in arms control agreements that prevent it from being dealt with effectively, they said.
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Dano is professor of international security at the University of Bradford and a leading expert on the prevention of biological and chemical weapons. Crowley is an honorary visiting senior research fellow in Bradford’s peace studies and Divisional Development Division.
This week they will travel to The Hague, where an international body called the Conference of the Parties to the United States will gather for its 30th session. The CSP oversees the implementation of Chemical weapons.
The book makes the case for a new “Holistic Arms Control” framework, rather than relying on existing arms control agreements. This provides many practical steps that can be taken, including the establishment of a working group of agents acting on the CNS and a wider range of non-inhibitory agents. Other suggestions concern training, monitoring and definitions.
“We need to move from reactive to proactive management,” Dano said.
Both men acknowledge that we are learning more about the brain and central nervous system, which is good for humanity. They say they are not trying to advance science and it is about preventing bad intentions.
Crowley said: “This is a wake-up call. We must act now to protect the integrity of science and the sanctity of the human mind.”