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boosting our mental capacity are expanding all the time. Do we need to
worry about the advent of a brave new world, where everyone is too
clever by half?

According to the British Medical Association, we must at least start
thinking about the ethics of altering the organ which is so central to
our being before there is no turning back.

The theory is this: if people are already willing to undergo the risks
of plastic surgery in search of the perfect body, who is to suggest they
would not do the same to better their brains.

Scientists are painting a picture of a time when toddlers pop pills on
the way to playgroup while employees are forced to quaff various
cocktails to boost their productivity.

But sinister as that may sound, the benefits could be immense.

A world where everyone is that much brighter might not just make for
more enlightened conversation, it could accelerate the quest for a cure
for cancer or an end to famine.

"We need to balance the benefits against the risks," says Dr Vivienne
Nathanson, head of ethics at the BMA.

"We're not making any recommendations - but we do want people to look up
and engage with this issue before it becomes the norm and it's too late
to do anything about it."

Something fishy

This is no longer a theoretical debate: to a certain extent it is
already happening.

Fish oil is already widely available and handed out to children by
parents who have been told it could improve school performance by
prolonging attention.

	The original purpose of medicine is, after all, to heal the
sick, not to turn healthy people into God
Francis Fukuyama
Philosopher

At one stage the government was thought to be considering giving it to
all schoolchildren, but the Food Standards Agency then reported that the
justification for doing so was limited: the evidence that fish oil works
in this way is as yet thin.

A much touted trial of County Durham schoolchildren, in which all GCSE
pupils were encouraged to take the supplement in the run up to exams
last summer, seems to have been quietly forgotten.

The exam results improved, but they have done for the last five years
and the percentage climb was actually smaller than the year before.

So parents, according to anecdotal evidence at least, are looking for
something stronger.

Medicines such as ritalin, used to improve concentration in the growing
number of children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, can also
improve brain function in children without such a diagnosis. And it can
be obtained on the internet.

Buying a brain

The BMA panel says we have to prepare for a time when these drugs are
potentially as readily available as the fish oil supplements you now get
from the supermarkets.

Safety concerns may not be enough to regulate supply, especially as
advances mean side effects, at least in the short term, are increasingly
limited, and these drugs may become a standard part of school life.

For those who can afford them. Aside from the ethical considerations of
pumping children full of drugs, questions of equality are raised, as
equal access is unlikely.

But then what's new, one might reasonably ask.

Richer parents are already able to spend over the odds to buy a property
in the catchment area of a good school or to educate their offspring
privately. Extra tuition puts their children ahead, while private music,
tennis and drama lessons enrich their lives.

=09
MIND IMPROVING DRUGS INCLUDE:
Methylphenidate (Ritalin)
Donepezil (Aricept)
Modafinil (Provigil)

Drugs could be the obvious next step to secure that prestigious
university place in an ever more competitive world.

And having glided from a top institution into the best jobs going, this
generation might face a lifetime of medication.

Why you may not need much brain power to pack toothpaste caps, there are
clear advantages for everyone in boosting the brain power of those in
jobs with great responsibility.

A study of pilots for instance found those who had taken the Alzheimer's
drug Donepezil were much more adept at carrying out complex tasks in a
flight simulator than those who had not.

Doctors on long shifts may be able to save more lives if their attention
was improved by an effective stimulant, the BMA paper suggests, while
such medication might even become compulsory for politicians if it were
proven that it could lead to better reasoned decisions on issues of
national importance.

All in the mind?

But the power of these drugs and even more extreme techniques such as
transcranial magnetic stimulation, which kick-starts certain parts of
the brain, may be overestimated for healthy people.

After all, cognitive function is not the be all and end all. Everyone
knows an intelligent slacker or a lifelong underachiever. Drugs or brain
massage are never going to replace the necessity of hard studying for
those who crave success, even if they make the process easier.

There may also be long term consequences.

Our brains currently have the power to filter out memories that are
trivial or traumatic, but drugs may impair this, leaving us either
plagued by nightmares or bored to death by insignificant incidents.

But most importantly, we need to work out how we feel about the moral
dimension of this debate, the BMA insists, and the very question of
making drugs available which make "normal" people become "better"
people.

We may find we end up agreeing with the philosopher and ardent foe of
mind enhancement, Francis Fukuyama, who wants such drugs strictly
regulated.

"The original purpose of medicine is, after all, to heal the sick," he
says, "not to turn healthy people into God."