'Humans have always been toolmakers, and this is just the next set of tools that humanity has developed to help us live longer, happier, more fulfilling lives, and like any set of tools, they can be used for constructive or destructive purposes,' Zack Lynch, managing director at NeuroInsights, an economic and social forecaster and adviser on neurotechnology, told United Press International.

He spoke Thursday at an American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington, where experts met to discuss the issue of human enhancement.

Technology such as employee brain scans to test for honesty, art exhibits that tinker with viewers` senses, memory erasure to expunge the memory of torture and neurowarfare could exist within 10 to 15 years, Lynch said.

Certain human enhancements have already filtered into society and are generally accepted. Botox, Prozac, laser eye surgery and even caffeine stimulation from Starbucks change how our bodies and minds function. Students use Ritalin as a study aide.

And steroid use and blood boosting, though illegal practices, are major issues in the world of sports. In fact, many worry that enhancement will take the place of effort.

'While no one may deserve their success if they achieve it without effort, no one deserved their natural talents either,' said Max Mehlman, professor of law and bioethics and director of the law-medicine center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland.

'But in fact life still has its hardships and people are still genuinely frustrated and trying to muddle through like most of us do,' Cohen added, emphasizing that a pill that simulates happiness is neither equal to nor as satisfying as being happy.

Yet developments in human enhancement could also boost the economy and keep businesses competitive, Lynch said, by preventing diseases that cost work hours and healthcare expense and increasing employee learning capacity and efficiency.

There is a blurry line between enhancement and therapy, Hughes said. Is it enhancement to improve someone`s body in a way that slows aging and inhibits certain diseases, or is it preventative treatment for those ailments?

'All the risks that fire had will be the risks that we`ll have in the future,' Hughes said, but a combination of individual liberty, government regulation and universal healthcare that guarantees access to new technology and drugs will prevent abuses.

'One of the best ways to deal with (human enhancement) is to promote as much transparency as possible and open dialogue,' Amy Patterson, director of the Office of Biotechnology Activity at the National Institutes of Health, told UPI. She added that the issue is best considered within the context of individual drugs, since the separate effects of each warrant different actions.

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