Planetary Health Research Ethics: Sounding Out the Dimensions
Sabine Salloch
Abstract
The degradation of natural environments has an enormous impact on human health, which is further specified in the transdisciplinary research paradigm of planetary health. Bioethical debates have so far predominantly discussed ecological tradeoffs in clinical decision-making, whereas the intersection of research ethics and planetary health remains rather unexplored. Relevant codices to date tend to reduce environmental issues to emissions directly caused by research activities. This article introduces the concept of planetary health research ethics that better accounts for the many-faceted dimensions that emerge. After making some theoretical underpinnings of research ethics explicit, the article discusses health research as a threat to the environment and evidence for a greener health-care practice as two fields of mitigation. In terms of adaptation, research addressing environmental impacts on diseases is then analyzed in its ethical dimension. The article closes with concrete suggestions for research ethics assessment considering the complexity of planetary health.