Defending and Defining Environmental Responsibilities for the Health Research Sector

• Published in: Science and engineering ethics Vol. 30; no. 3; p. 25
• Main Author: Pratt, Bridget
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 06.06.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biodiversity loss; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedical Research - ethics; Chemical pollution; Climate Change; Conservation of Natural Resources; Education; Emissions control; Engineering; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental Pollution; Ethics; Ethics, Research; Humans; Land pollution; Medical research; Medicine/Public Health; Moral Obligations; Original Research/Scholarship; Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Social Justice; Social Responsibility; Justice; Ethics; Climate change; Environment; Health research
• ISSN: 1471-5546; 1353-3452; 1471-5546
• DOI: 10.1007/s11948-024-00487-z

Six planetary boundaries have already been exceeded, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, chemical pollution, and land-system change. The health research sector contributes to the environmental crisis we are facing, though to a lesser extent than healthcare or agriculture sectors. It could take steps to reduce its environmental impact but generally has not done so, even as the planetary emergency worsens. So far, the normative case for why the health research sector should rectify that failure has not been made. This paper argues strong philosophical grounds, derived from theories of health and social justice, exist to support the claim that the sector has a duty to avoid or minimise causing or contributing to ecological harms that threaten human health or worsen health inequity. The paper next develops ideas about the duty’s content, explaining why it should entail more than reducing carbon emissions, and considers what limits might be placed on the duty.