The Food and Drug Administration has missed its deadline to ban electrical stimulation devices used as behavior modification on autistic and developmentally disabled individuals, including children, prompting outrage from advocacy groups. The devices, commonly known as the GED, deliver shocks described as more painful than a commercial stun gun, with potential harms including severe pain, skin burns, trauma, and suicidality, according to the FDA.
The FDA initially attempted to ban the devices in 2020, but a federal appeals court overruled the decision. Congress then passed a law in 2023 granting the FDA authority to implement a ban, and the agency proposed a rule in March 2024. However, the deadline has now passed without final action.
Jan Eastgate, president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, or CCHR, said the delay reflects a broader failure to safeguard the public from both these devices and electroconvulsive therapy. “The cruel practice needs to end, not only in Massachusetts but universally, and include all electroshock,” Eastgate said. “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.”
The devices deliver up to 60 volts and 15 milliamps of electricity in two-second bursts, sometimes administered up to 77 times a day. Survivors have described the experience as terror and extreme pain. 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.”
The practice has been condemned by United Nations officials as torture and by the American Academy of Pediatrics as punishment. In 2012, the case of Andre McCollins made national news when footage showed he was shocked 31 times in one day for refusing to remove his coat, crying out, “Please stop, please stop.”
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, where six children had died in care. UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez declared in 2012 that “the passage of electricity through anybody's body is clearly associated with pain and suffering.”
Nancy Weiss, a retired professor and 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.
CCHR, established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Dr. Thomas Szasz, has led global initiatives to end electroshock treatment, obtaining bans on its use on minors in California and Texas. The organization submitted comments supporting a comprehensive ban on all behavioral use.
