An international body entrusted with upholding human rights across the Americas has called for an immediate ban on the controversial use of electric shocks on severely disabled children in a school outside Boston. So far the institution has managed to fend off all opposition, arguing that electric shocks are an acceptable way of discouraging harmful habits. Now the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has issued a rare formal notice known as “precautionary measures” that calls for immediate cessation of the electric shocks. Photograph: Rick Friedman for the GuardianIn a statement to the Guardian, the school said the electric shock devices presented no serious risk to children. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates all medical and therapeutic devices, could pull the GED electric shock machine by ruling it illegal.

Source: The Guardian December 18, 2018 10:52 UTC