- The US military is developing a weapon that delivers
a bout of excruciating pain from afar to use against protesters and rioters.
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- Documents released under the US Freedom of Information
Act show that scientists have received funding to investigate how much
pain can be induced in individuals hit by electromagnetic pulses created
by lasers without killing them.
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- Due to be ready for use in 2007, the Pulsed Energy Projectile
weapon is designed to trigger extreme pain from a distance of one-and-a-quarter
miles.
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- It fires a laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding
plasma - electrically charged gas - when it hits something solid. Tests
on animals showed it produced "pain and temporary paralysis".
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- Pain researchers told today's New Scientist magazine
that the technology could end up being used for torture and that it was
unethical.
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- Andrew Rice, a consultant in pain medicine in London,
said: "I am deeply concerned about the ethical aspects of this research."
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
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