Scientists Assert Brain-Boosting Drugs Are OK: Are They Wrong?
By Daniel J. DeNoon WebMD Health News Reviewed By Michael W. Smith, MD Dec. 11, 2008 — What’s wrong with healthy people taking brain-boosting drugs? Nothing, seven leading scientists and ethicists announced this week. Polls suggest that as many as one in five scientists already take brain-boosting drugs — usually the stimulants Ritalin, Adderall, or Provigil. And there’s nothing wrong with that, suggest the authors of a provocative editorial in this week’s issue of the science journal Nature. “We call for a presumption that mentally competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive enhancement using drugs,” they write. The editorial also calls for further research into the risks and benefits of using drugs in this way.
