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<h2><b>Maximum pain is aim of new US
weapon</b></h2><font face="arial" size=3><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7077" eudora="autourl">http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7077<br><br></a></font>
<ul>
<li>19:00 02 March 2005
<li>Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
<li>David Hambling
</ul><br>
The US military is funding development of a weapon that delivers a bout
of excruciating pain from up to 2 kilometres away. Intended for use
against rioters, it is meant to leave victims unharmed. But pain
researchers are furious that work aimed at controlling pain has been used
to develop a weapon. And they fear that the technology will be used for
torture.<br><br>
"I am deeply concerned about the ethical aspects of this
research," says Andrew Rice, a consultant in pain medicine at
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, UK. "Even if the use of
temporary severe pain can be justified as a restraining measure, which I
do not believe it can, the long-term physical and psychological effects
are unknown."<br><br>
The research came to light in documents unearthed by the Sunshine
Project, an organisation based in Texas and in Hamburg, Germany, that
exposes biological weapons research. The papers were released under the
US's Freedom of Information Act.<br><br>
One document, a research contract between the Office of Naval Research
and the University of Florida in Gainesville, US, is entitled
"Sensory consequences of electromagnetic pulses emitted by laser
induced plasmas". <br><br>
It concerns so-called Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs), which fire a
laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding plasma when it hits
something solid, like a person (<b>New Scientist</b> print edition, 12
October 2002). The weapon, destined for use in 2007, could literally
knock rioters off their feet. <br><br>
<h5><b>Pain trigger</b></h5><font size=3>According to a 2003 review of
non-lethal weapons by the US Naval Studies Board, which advises the navy
and marine corps, PEPs produced "pain and temporary paralysis"
in tests on animals. This appears to be the result of an electromagnetic
pulse produced by the expanding plasma which triggers impulses in nerve
cells. <br><br>
The new study, which runs until July and will be carried out with
researchers at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, aims to
optimise this effect. The idea is to work out how to generate a pulse
which triggers pain neurons without damaging tissue.<br><br>
The contract, heavily censored before release, asks researchers to look
for "optimal pulse parameters to evoke peak nociceptor
activation" - in other words, cause the maximum pain possible.
Studies on cells grown in the lab will identify how much pain can be
inflicted on someone before causing injury or death. <br><br>
</font><h5><b>Long-term risk</b></h5><font size=3><b>New Scientist</b>
contacted two researchers working on the project. Martin Richardson, a
laser expert at the University of Central Florida, US, refused to
comment. Brian Cooper, an expert in dental pain at the University of
Florida, distanced himself from the work, saying "I don't have
anything interesting to convey. I was just providing some background for
the group." His name appears on a public list of the university's
research projects next to the $500,000-plus grant.<br><br>
John Wood of University College London, UK, an expert in how the brain
perceives pain, says the researchers involved in the project should face
censure. "It could be used for torture," he says, "the
[researchers] must be aware of this."<br><br>
Amanda Williams, a clinical psychologist at University College London,
fears that victims risk long-term harm. "Persistent pain can result
from a range of supposedly non-destructive stimuli which nevertheless
change the functioning of the nervous system," she says. She is
concerned that studies of cultured cells will fall short of demonstrating
a safe level for a plasma burst. "They cannot tell us about the pain
and psychological consequences of such a painful
experience."<br><br>
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