Russia used fentanyl derivatives to end a siege by Chechen militants at a Moscow theatre in 2002. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
A new report from two UK academics argues that technologies capable of altering thought, behaviour and perception are moving out of the realm of fiction and into real-world risk. According to The Guardian, Michael Crowley and Malcolm Dando of Bradford University say advances in neuroscience, pharmacology and AI are converging in ways that demand urgent international oversight.
They are preparing to publish a book through the Royal Society of Chemistry that details how modern tools could allow states to manipulate the central nervous system with precision. Crowley said the capabilities now emerging could enable governments to sedate, confuse or coerce targets with far greater accuracy than anything seen in the past. He described the brain as the next frontier of conflict.
The history they outline tracks decades of state-sponsored efforts to develop chemical agents designed to impair consciousness. Both the US and the Soviet Union carried out CNS-focused research during the cold war, and similar efforts continued in China. These programs pursued chemicals capable of causing paralysis, hallucinations or prolonged incapacitation. The only large-scale use documented so far was the 2002 Moscow theatre siege, when Russian forces deployed a fentanyl-derived compound that killed more than 120 hostages.
According to the academics, new scientific progress now makes it possible to design agents far more targeted than those early chemical attempts. Dando noted that the same insights used today to treat neurological conditions could be misused to undermine cognition, induce compliance or even influence behaviour covertly.
Both researchers argue that current global treaties are not equipped to deal with such risks. The Chemical Weapons Convention does not fully address the range of emerging CNS-active technologies, and they believe the world is unprepared for how rapidly the field is evolving.
Their proposals include establishing a working group dedicated to CNS-acting and incapacitating agents, strengthening monitoring mechanisms and refining definitions within arms control regimes. They describe this as a shift from reactive to proactive governance, emphasising that the goal is not to slow medical progress but to prevent its misuse.
As they travel to The Hague for the 30th session of the Conference of the States Parties, Crowley says the message is simple: developments in neuroscience are accelerating, and societies need to act now if they want to protect the human mind from becoming a future battlespace.