Response to the electric brain

ABSTRACT

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is swiftly entering the consumer marketplace. Do-it-yourself and direct-to-consumer uses are on the rise. Smith argues that the neuroscience community has an ethical imperative to watch over the consuming public at a time when the risks and benefits of tDCS technology are still uncertain. The real impetus for change will more likely come from agency regulation of consumer tDCS devices.

KEYWORDS:

• Transcranial direct current stimulation
• FDA
• regulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Nathaniel D. May is a J.D. Candidate ’17 at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He received his M.A. in Bioethics from Wake Forest University in 2014 and his B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona in 2013.