OT: Cambridge professor calls for healthy adults to use Ritalin 'to boost brain power'

[Guest guest]

<Shaking head in amazement and disgust>

http://www.dailymail.co

uk/health/article-1092826/Cambridge-professor-calls-healthy-adults-use-Ritali

-boost-brain-power.html

Cambridge professor calls for healthy adults to use Ritalin 'to boost brain

power'

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 11:56 AM on 09th December 2008

Healthy adults could benefit from taking Ritalin to boost their brainpower,

say academics.

They called for the controversial anti-hyperactivity drug to be made widely

available to improve memory and attention in the workplace.

The Alzheimer's drug Aricept is among others which could bring huge benefits

to healthy adults ranging from factory workers to surgeons, said Professor

Barbara Sahakian, of Cambridge University, and six other academics.

The drugs, which have side-effects varying from appetite loss to heart

problems, should be seen as no different to a good night's sleep or the

latest laptop as aids to staying on top of the hectic working day, they said

We should 'welcome' new ways of boosting brainpower.

The views will horrify those who believe such performance-enhancing drugs

can be dangerous, and raise concern that they will be seen as an endorsement

from the medical world.

Ritalin and similar drugs have been linked to 12 deaths in the UK. Some

victims died of heart problems, others of strokes, tumours or swelling of

the brain.

Three of the deaths were suicides.

Writing in the journal Nature, the academics argue that the

prescription-only drugs are already increasingly being used to enhance

memory, attention span and wakefulness.

Studies show that up to a quarter of students at some U.S. Universities have

used them in the past year, while in Britain, doctors have warned that

pushyparents are using Internet-bought drugs to boost their children's exam

performance.

The academics said that although more research was needed into the use of

the drugs on healthy people, cognitive 'enhancement' should not be viewed as

a 'dirty word'.

The authors believe it would be wrong to dismiss the use of the drugs on the

grounds they are unnatural.

They said: 'The lives of almost all human beings are deeply unnatural; our

homes, our

Clothes and our food - to say nothing of the medical care we enjoy - bear

little relation to our " natural " state.

'Given the many cognitive-enhancing tools we accept already, from writing to

laptop computers, why draw the line here?'

But others cautioned about the health risks associated with the drugs.

Dr Tim Kendall, a consultant psychiatrist from Sheffield, said healthy

adults taking Ritalin would be misusing the drug.

He said: 'I would ask, do they want to take the risks this drug has simply

to help them get through a long day at work?'

Dr Sami Timimi, a consultant psychiatrist in Lincolnshire, said: 'Just as we

are comfortable with using surgery to enhance appearance, we are starting to

drift towards using drugs to enhance living experiences.'

Professor Sahakian said healthy adults should not take Ritalin and other

smart drugs' until their long-term safety has been proved.

She said: 'The major reason for writing this paper is to call on the

regulatory authorities to allow pharmaceutical companies to market cognitive

enhancers to adults, provided they have provided the necessary data on

safety and efficacy.

'It would be much safer if people were able to access these drugs through the

normal means than to buy them off the Internet.'

[Guest guest]

Of course !!! That's what we need: more Ritalin in this world.

What a load of hooey,

Magda