Last year, BBC News sent its reporters undercover in what it described as a sting operation to expose illegal tongue-piercing and other body modification procedures. It did not matter that the procedures were all done on consenting and paying customers.

Among those “exposed” by BBC News was cyborg couple Samppa Von Cyborg and Aneta Von Cyborg, and body mortification artist Veronica Blades, who were secretly filmed preparing to administer articaine, an anesthetic that only registered medical professionals are allowed to administer.

And then earlier this year in March, UK national Brendan McCarthy, also known as ‘Dr. Evil’ within body modification and biohacking circles, was sentenced to prison for over three years for performing consensual body modifications.

The reason for all these incidences where adult consent and body autonomy rights were disregarded, is because English law, in particular the Offences Against the Person Act, does not allow consent as a defense against charges of actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm, except for certain socially sanctioned activities.

The Adam Smith Institute, an influential neoliberal think-tank, says that the Offences Against the Person Act is outdated and should be updated not just to protect people’s expressions and allow for greater personal freedom, but also to give people the option of pursuing transhumanism through the use of technology for self-modification and enhancement.

In a paper titled “Free to Consent: The case for legalizing body modification, BDSM, and transhumanism”, the Adam Smith Institute argues that consent should in fact be a valid defense to charges of actual or grievous bodily harm. The pressure group particularly raises issue with the fact that the socially sanctioned “exceptions” where consent is allowed as a defense, have made application of the Offences Against the Person Act inconsistent – because people can consent to potentially harmful activities, such as: ear piercings, contact sports and religious flagellation, but cannot consent to body modification or BDSM-related sexual activities.

Ben Ramanauskas, the author of the paper, also argues that it is members of subcultures and sexual minorities who are most likely to suffer from laws that do not allow individuals to consent as their activities “fall outside of cultural norms and therefore attract an instinctive disgust reaction.”

Ramanauskas also explains that laws like the Offences Against the Person Act make it impossible to pursue transhumanist activities like biohacking which involve using technology to enhance humanity beyond its current physical and mental capabilities:

“Those who wish to augment their bodies using new technologies, as well as those undertaking research in this area, need permission to do so. Under the current law, such activities and developments are difficult to the point of being unachievable.”

The Offences Against the Person Act which was created in 1861, has had updates since then, some of which allowed for surgery and tattoos, and so the Adam Smith Institute recommends that it should be reformed again and “consent becomes a valid defense to charges of actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm,” so that “the onus would be on the defendant to prove that the alleged victim had consented to the acts.”

“Individuals should be free to consent to sadomasochistic encounters and body modification,” says Ramanauskas, “Reforming the law will ensure that individual autonomy is upheld, harm is reduced, and that humanity can seize the opportunities of future technology.”

The Adam Smith Institute – which at the height of its influence created policy for the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s, has since abandoned its proclamations of libertarianism for neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is the dominant socio-economic policy in the West, and it is espoused by most global elites – particularly the so-called ‘Davos Man’ and has been enforced by the Center Left governments of Tony Blair in the UK, and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in the United States. These neoliberal administrations, all globalist in outlook, have not shied away from exporting this ideology elsewhere, many times through force and regime change; so the political clout to enforce reforms that favor transhumanism is certainly there, and the advocacy of the Adam Smith Institute as a pressure group, is likely to yield real results, very soon. At least in the United Kingdom.

But the issue of governments disregarding body autonomy rights and adult consent is not happening in the UK alone. In the United States, a Democratic lawmaker almost passed a bill to ban voluntary human microchipping in the State of Nevada. However, a powerful, well-funded and connected lobby group was not needed to stop the bill, as biohacker-magician Anastasia Synn took the initiative and appeared before the Nevada Senate and through her advocacy, helped ensure that the ridiculous bill was amended and voluntary human microchipping was not made illegal. Synn showed that biohackers, who are currently the only group with actual “skin in the game” of transhumanism, can make a difference and make the climate to be more favorable to the pursuit of human augmentation, if they take the initiative and advocate for their craft.