[ASAN] ACT NOW: Tell FDA To Ban Rotenberg's Electric Shock

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering an important action that would ban the use of devices that use electric shock for behavior modification. This action has the potential to close the Judge Rotenberg Center, an institution in Massachusetts which uses contingent electric shocks as a method of behavioral control.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has declared the use of electric shock as torture, and the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a civil rights investigation into the JRC’s practices. The JRC’s founder, Matthew Israel, was forced to resign after facing charges for destroying video evidence of abuses of the GED electric shock device. Contrary to the JRC’s claims, not only do students receive electric shocks for relatively minor behaviors such as standing up from a desk or swearing as well as for potentially dangerous behaviors, but severe self-injurious and destructive behaviors can be successfully treated using methods other than abuse and torture. In legislative hearings each year on legislation that would ban the shocks, professionals with expertise in developmental and intellectual disabilities testify about the ineffectiveness of electric shock and the myriad options for addressing problematic behavior other than electric shocking. There are no scientific, peer-reviewed studies that show any long-term efficacy of electric shock as a treatment, but there are documented cases of former JRC students receiving diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving the JRC.

We need to assure the FDA receives as much written testimony as possible regarding this issue. The deadline for submitting statements is this Monday, April 14th.

Your written statement can be any length and can contain any information you want - your opinion about the use of electric shock for behavior modification, other ways of supporting people who have dangerous or difficult behaviors, issues of ethics and rights, research, etc. All comments are important and welcome.

Comments can be received on or before April 14th, and can be submitted electronically by April 14th here:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FDA-2014-N-0238-0001

Click on the link above and you will receive a form. You can type (or copy and paste) your statement there or upload a document. You can choose to give contact information or to submit anonymously.

Your statement must be received by April 14th.

Thank you for letting us know about this.

Cross-posted to another forum and my blog.

Thank you for publicizing this.

Thank you ken

Can you provide citations to this?

And does it possibly band Electroshock therapy? That... would be a problem

I think the goal is to ban electroshock "therapy", or "torture" as it has been deemed by the United Nations.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAj9W0ntUMI[/youtube]

The US doesn't care about the UN or international law. Let me sum up the US's relationship with the UN in this personified conversation between them.

US: "All of these other countries are violating international law. This is a threat to my economic and social interests, as well as a threat to my goal of creating a perfect world by achieving global sovereignty."

UN: "Don't you also violate international law on a regular basis."

US: "Yes, but that's different. I don't like it when you threaten my sovereignty by telling me what to do. I assure you that everything I do is in the best interests of humanity. I have the only legitimate government in the world, and every other country represents ideals less than my own. My laws are the perfect and unflawed word of God."

UN: "I'm not trying to threaten your sovereignty, I'm just suggesting that it would be nice if you didn't torture people."

US: "You know what, I was going to stop, but now I'm not going to, just because you told me to. No one tells me what to do. And I'm especially not listening to you if China and Russia don't. I'm more powerful than them, and if they don't have to listen to you, then neither should I. I won't listen to you because I'm not weak, and I want China and Russia to know that."

UN: "I care about the best interests of humanity too, but don't think you're letting your narcissism get in way of doing what's right. If you really want to show that you're better than China and Russia, do what they wouldn't do, and end torture. Not because I told you to, but because it's the right thing to do. Isn't that what American ideals are supposed to be about?"

US: "How dare you question my ideals! I don't need to do anything to show that I'm better than China or Russia. I've always been better than them. Nothing could make me any better than I already am. There is nothing I could learn from you or any other country, because I'm far superior to all of you. You should be listening to me, not the other way around. F*** you, and your concept of human rights."

UN: "Okay, I'm just going to back off now. Let me know if you change you mind"

Yes, we know that, or they would have shut the Judge Rotenberg Center down a long time ago.

Which is my point... The way they are using it, is torture...

but Electroshock (or electro convulsive therapy) has it's place, is an effective treatment for some conditions (including severe bipolar disorder that is resistive to chemical treatments)... For the record... What the Rotenburg center is doing isn't ECT... It is negative reinforcement training... and what they are doing needs to stop.

I fail to see how electroshock could be anything other then negative reinforcement training. Anyway the United Nations considers it to be torture, and so do I. I think it will be banned. But the JRC is making $50 million a year with it. They are not going to give it up easy.

AGAIN... I state that what they are doing is NOT electroshock therapy... Period. They are treating the subjects like dogs... Please read up on ECT, its procedures and its benefits. Links provided.

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I'm pretty sure a ban on GED electric shock devices would not effect ECT devices.

But that is not what people are saying here... they are saying ban electroshock.

Who said that? I just read the entire thread, and I don't see anyone saying anything close to that.

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering an important action that would ban the use of devices that use electric shock for behavior modification"

"I think the goal is to ban electroshock "therapy", or "torture" as it has been deemed by the United Nations"

"I fail to see how electroshock could be anything other then negative reinforcement training. Anyway the United Nations considers it to be torture, and so do I. I think it will be banned."

when I saw the video of the electroshock torture, I was [iterally so sick to my stomach that I was not even able to make it to the toilet. My youngest son is 20 years old. He is autistic, but when he was 12 years old he developed severe profound Tourettes. About 6 weeks later he developed tazer like,icepic pain that were so severe that he passed out hundreds of times a day. Twice, blood spurted from his eye sockets. He was so caught up in the pain, when he was not "burning" as he calls them, he lived in fear of the pain. AND he begged me day after day, "Mommy, please help me die." lJ still has the burns, no longer 24/7 ,but enough that he fears leaving the house, has no real friends, and is in a complete depression. Sometimes he gets angry with me and screams "Why didn't you help me die."

Okay, before he got sick, my son was a handful. When he was a little kid and still in school, he was voted "Most likely to be CEO of a major corporation." He planned to bring wealth to a small lthird world nation. you have to be a pretty spunky person to accomplish those goals,and despite being autistic and ADHD, he had what it would take to someday accomplish such things. Including bbeing a free thinker. This made for some behavioaral issues.

When I saw that video last year, I saw what was happening to my baby, being deliberately induced in other children!

Well, guess what? The monsters are right. This DOES stop behavioral problems. WHY? Because these babies,l like my son, are way too traumatized and terrified to do anything. On top of that, it's like these "burns", along with burning out individuality, burn out a lot of intelligence as well. [At 12 he was doing college level calculus and trig]

HOW DARE ANYONE DELIBERATELY DESTROY A CHILD SO THAT HE IS PASSIVE AND EASY?

Once my son told me that he is envious of the fact that i have advanced cancer. He said someone dying of cancer at least knows that the pain is not forever.

This torture has to become illegal.