in the process.

"If it was discovered that a teacher was having students use magnifying glasses to burn ants and then look at their tissue, how would people react?" he is quoted as saying.

Likewise Queen's University philosophy Professor Michael Allen warned that the device will "encourage amateurs to operate invasively on living organisms" and "encourage thinking of complex living organisms as mere machines or tools".

The Michigan-based company has even received emails saying the the backpack - known as Roboroach - "teaches kids to be psychopaths".

Image caption Roboroach works by controlling the movements of the cockroach through electrodes that connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth.

Image caption Critics say that the "electronic backpack" is cruel and subjects the insects to unnecessary stress.

Image caption To attach the backpack, the insect is immersedinto ice water to subdue it. Electrodes are stuck to it using glue and groundwire is inserted into the thorax.

Image caption The Roboroach weighs 4.5g and is compatible with most mobile phones. It overrides the insect's antennae making it turn left and right at the flick of a switch.

But Backyard Brains says the backpacks "allow students to do graduate level research early in life".

A company spokeswoman told the BBC that the backpack had been developed solely to encourage children to take an interest in neuroscience which, she said, needed to be better taught in American schools.

"At the moment this crucially important subject is woefully under-taught," she said, "with many schools teaching neuroscience within the biology syllabus when it should be a subject in its own right.

"That is especially