Medical devices currently cover items as wide ranging as sticking plaster, hospital beds, hip replac

The games, which use a helmet or headband to pick up electrical signals, ought to be regulated in the same way as breast implants, pacemakers and heart valves, according to the influential Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
One example already on the market is the Swedish game Mindball, in which brain waves are used to control a ball's movement across a table, which as well as providing entertainment, is intended to train players to be more relaxed and focused.
Chair of the Nuffield enquiry Tom Baldwin, Professor of Philisophy at the University of York, says "some big players" in the gaming world appeared to be waiting on the side lines for the technology to progress.
Medical devices currently cover items as wide ranging as sticking plaster, hospital beds, hip replacements, X-ray machines, cancun palace hotel heart valves and pacemakers, and breast implants but the report says games and training aids that employ BCI technology should be added to this list.
Professor Graeme Laurie, from the University of Edinburgh, a member of the working party that produced the report, says: "What we would like to see is action from the European Commission to classify neuro devices as medical devices for regulatory purposes, even when they're being used for non-health care ends, such as gaming and educational purposes.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which employs electrode probes, is already used to treat Parkinson's disease. Transcranial Brain Stimulation (TBS), which uses magnetic fields, is licensed to treat depression in the US but only has a research permit in the UK.