The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has passed its deadline to ban the electrical stimulation device (ESD), commonly known as the GED, used as behavior modification on autistic and developmentally disabled individuals, including children. The device delivers a punishment more painful than a commercial stun gun through high amperage and electrode spacing. The FDA tried to outlaw it in 2020 before a federal appeals court judge overruled the agency's decision. Congress enacted a law in 2023 to enable the FDA to legally ban the device, which it proposed doing a year later.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) says a ban is long overdue. CCHR President Jan Eastgate adds that the delay reflects a failure to safeguard the public from both ESDs and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, electroshock) devices. Survivors say ESD causes terror and extreme pain. Electrodes are attached to the arms, legs, or stomach and deliver 60 volts and 15 milliamps of electricity in two-second bursts—sometimes up to 77 times a day.
According to the FDA, potential harms include severe pain, skin burns, trauma, tissue damage, suicidality, chronic and acute stress, nightmares and flashbacks of panic and rage. One survivor testified: "I would ask God to make my heart stop because I did not want to live when that (electric shock) was happening to me." Another stated: "I just want to die and make it (electric shock) stop." In 2012, the case of Andre McCollins made national news, enraging the country when footage showed he was shocked 31 times in one day for refusing to take his coat off when instructed to. During his torturous ordeal, Andre cried out, "Please stop, please stop."
The practice has been described as "torture" by United Nations officials and "punishing" by the American Academy of Pediatrics. After Congress enacted a provision giving the FDA the authority it was previously lacking to enact the ban, in March 2024, the agency issued a new rule to ban the device. At that time, American Academy of Pediatrics President Benjamin Hoffman warned that using ESDs to deliver high-voltage shocks to patients exhibiting "self-injurious or aggressive behaviors" placed recipients "at high risk for both physical and psychological traumas." Hoffman noted the device could actually exacerbate the very behaviors it aims to correct.
CCHR submitted comments supporting a comprehensive ban on all behavioral use. Over 100 advocacy groups, including the Stop the Shock Coalition, have consistently pushed for the ban. In 2007, Mother Jones exposed abuses at a Massachusetts facility using the device and charging $220,000 per student annually. Eight states and York City had been sending children to the facility, for which New York paid $30 million per year. Six children had died in the facility's care. Mother Jones questioned: "How many times do you have to zap a child before it's torture?"
In 2012, UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez declared the practice should end, stating: "The passage of electricity through anybody's body is clearly associated with pain and suffering." In 2022, CCHR urged Massachusetts legislators to ban the practice under torture statutes rather than waiting for the FDA. New York State Senator Jabari Brisport stated, "No facility that thinks it's acceptable to electro-shock children can be trusted with their care. Our nation has found excuses for far too long to lock away disabled children and subject them to inhumane practices." Nancy Weiss, a retired professor and longtime advocate, emphasized: "You're not allowed to use electric shock on prisoners or prisoners of war or convicted terrorists." She warned that the ban will face resistance from those profiting from the device.
In October 2023, the World Health Organization and UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights guideline, "Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation," called for an end to "the structural violence and harm exercised through and facilitated by mental health laws," which are, in themselves, forms of historical trauma. Eastgate says electroshock practices using shock treatment exemplify this: "The cruel practice needs to end, not only in Massachusetts but universally, and include all electroshock. In an era where there is international condemnation of coercive psychiatric practices, any electrical device used to force changes in behavior, emotion, and mental problems should be prohibited. There is an urgent need to prioritize human rights and dignity over damaging and coercive psychiatric and psychological practices."
