Why a Bioethical Approach is Needed in Addressing Health Risks Stemming from Pandemics Due to Zoonoses Linked to Human Impact on Biodiversity?

This chapter aims to demonstrate why a precautionary and bioethical approach is needed to avert forthcoming pandemics due to zoonosis. Precautionary principle should be intended as a conceptual tool for assessing whether human action, and its arising environmental alterations, exceed the absorption capacity of Nature. Likewise, original meaning of bioethics, namely the questioning of unsustainable progress and human survival, should be resumed to reflect on human footprint on biodiversity. This reflection seems to be even more pressing if we consider how national policies are struggling to face the pandemic’s socio-economic consequences. Focusing on how to prevent zoonosis’ events, by pondering on the concept of ‘biological wisdom’ coined by Van Rensselaer Potter, might be more effective than suggesting complex reforms of healthcare systems. Furthermore, a bioethical approach, by its very definition, consists of a multidisciplinary approach, increasingly worthwhile in present-day societies characterized by strong complexity. Indeed, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has demonstrated how dense is the network of nature, human beings and socio-economic structures. It seems appropriate to think origins of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic as a warning for the future, by questioning methods and extension of human impact on biodiversity.

The Challenge of CRISPR-Cas Toward Bioethics

Since determining the structure of the DNA double helix, the study of genes and genomes has revolutionized contemporary science; with the decoding of the human genome, new findings have been achieved, including the ability that humans have developed to modify genetic sequences in vitro. The discovery of gene modification mechanisms, such as the CRISPR-Cas system (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and Cas (CRISPR associated). Derived from the latest discoveries in genetics, the idea that science has no limits has exploded. However, improvements in genetic engineering allowed access to new possibilities to save lives or generate new treatment options for diseases that are not treatable by using genes and their modification in the genome. With this greater knowledge, the immediate question is who governs the limits of genetic science? The first answer would be the intervention of a legislative branch, with adequate scientific advice, from which the logical answer, bioethics, should result. This term was introduced for the first time by Van Rensselaer Potter, who in 1970 combined the Greek words bios and ethos, Bio-Ethik, which determined the study of the morality of human behavior in science. The approach to this term was introduced to avoid the natural tension that results from the scientific technical development and the ethics of limits. Therefore, associating the use of biotechnology through the CRISPR-Cas system and the regulation through bioethics, aims to monitor the use of techniques and technology, with benefits for humanity, without altering fundamental rights, acting with moral and ethical principles.

The right to exit the footnote: a story of rediscovery and revival of Fritz Jahr’s bioethics (with special regard to Italy)

Despite the numerous works evaluating Fritz Jahr’s importance for bioethics, there is still a widespread practice at best to put his name in some of the footnotes. The similar practice is recognized in Italy and the full appreciation of his work – contrary to the reception of Van Rensselaer Potter’s work – is still to come. First part of this paper is concerned with the mentioned uncommendable practice as a main motive of the article. Second part shortly captures the main facts about life and work of Fritz Jahr. Third part is dedicated to summary of extensive work of Van Rensselaer Potter. Next part reveals the trends and practices in Italy concerning the reception of those two «fathers of bioethics» and delineate the lines of research based on their work. In conclusion the authors call for caution and attentive approach to history of bioethics because mixing those research lines could be at least deceptive if not completely unfruitful.

Hacia una fundamentación de la Bioética Ambiental desde la visión de Fritz Jahr, Aldo Leopold y Van Rensselaer Potter

Resumen El presente artículo hace una reflexión acerca de los postulados ambientalistas inherentes al cuerpo teórico de la bioética. Se delimita la Bioética Ambiental en la visión de Potter, mediante el análisis de su obra. Se analiza del pensamiento de Leopold (1949), enfocado en una ética ecocéntrica. También se realiza un recuento de la propuesta de Jahr (1927), pensamiento antecesor de la bioética. Se desarrolla además una revisión de las propuestas sobre bioética ambiental en el ámbito latinoamericano. El objetivo de la investigación fue establecer unos postulados para el campo de estudio de la bioética ambiental que permitan una interpretación de la crisis ambiental, en el contexto de los ecosistemas planetarios. La metodología aplicada, bajo el enfoque cualitativo, consistió en una revisión documental, en perspectiva hermenéutica, de la obra de Jhar, Leopold y Potter; igualmente, de algunos estudios de autores latinoamericanos. Fue establecido como periodo de tiempo para la recolección de dicha información, los años de 1970 a 2017, periodo en el cual se produjeron los principales estudios internacionales sobre la problemática ambiental en el planeta. La reflexión permitió concluir que se consolidan en el ámbito de la bioética ambiental, cuatro actuaciones centrales: la defensa a ultranza de la vida, en cualquiera de sus manifestaciones; la promoción de la existencia de personas sanas en armonía con ecosistemas sanos; la estructuración de normas ambientales para la protección de las ciudades y los bosques; y producir industrialmente para una vida digna, bajo parámetros de protección de los ecosistemas.

Transformation of the subject in bioethics: From an autonomous person to cosmopolitan

The purpose of the article is to trace the development of the idea of subjectivity in bioethics, starting from the level assumed by the prevailing model of personal autonomy up to the cosmopolitan dimension innate to the global model proposed by Van Rensselaer Potter. In the article, autonomy is considered in the more general context of the individualization of Western societies. It is revealed that autonomy is inherently dependent on the idea of human well-being and the values of individualism and therefore it can be reduced to individual decisions. This devaluation of personal autonomy finds justifiable criticism among bioethicists. The concept of the subject is restored in the frame of the substantive model of autonomy indicating the inextricable connection of a choice and a common personal perspective. Such an individualistic approach to the subject is initially limited. Being concentrated on the behavior of a rational individual, the approach localizes all relevant ethical cases. In the modern world, global problem intersect with each other they cease to be noticed and moreover become intimatized due to their individualistic description. This approach to the subject is thus inadequate and needs to be replaced. For this purpose, the difference between the two traditions within bioethics must be overcome: an autonomous person and cosmopolitan remain the two significant models of subjectivity, and the bridge between them has never been built. The article explores the possibility of such a transition to a cosmopolitan position on the classic example from The Phenomenology of Spirit. It can be concluded that the current position of the theory of the subject is tenuous on both flanks of bioethics. When it loses the message of subjectivity and becomes a servant of the technological approach, we get just another version of medical ethics and lose the long-term perspective appropriate for the cosmopolitan world.

COVID-19, salud pública y medioambiente.

In the 1970s, the American biochemist and oncologist Van Rensselaer Potter coined a new word, 'bioethics', to describe an emerging discipline bringing together the life sciences and ethics. This new field, for Potter, represented "a bridge to the future" of humanity. Fifty years later, the "global bioethics" that Potter theorized in the 1970s has largely been reduced to clinical ethics. Meanwhile, the role of bioethics in what is probably the most important debate for the continuation of human life on the planet, the environmental debate, has been minimal. In view of the dangers that threaten life as we know it today, and consequently even human continuity on our planet, it is imperative to ask what kind of change is needed to avoid such risks, how to achieve it, and what the role of bioethics should be in this transition. Keywords: Bioethics, Covid-19, Medical ethics, Environment, Public health.

BIOÉTICA DE LA LIBERACIÓN: JUSTIFICACIÓN A PARTIR DE UNA CRÍTICA A LA BIOÉTICA POTTERIANA

En este trabajo se defiende la pertinencia de elaborar una bioética desde la corriente del pensamiento de liberación. Para lo anterior, se analiza el núcleo de la bioética pionera estadounidense de Van Rensselaer Potter en relación con tres puntos: su concepción antropológica, su objetivo y su fundamentación teórica. Posteriormente, y a modo de contraste, se retoman los mismos tres conceptos analizados, pero desarrollados ahora desde la perspectiva del movimiento de liberación. Una vez hecho esto se evidenciará la necesidad de invertir esfuerzos en reivindicar una función liberadora en esta disciplina.

“Fed Up” e “Muito Além do Peso” como documentários fontes para pesquisa bioética: interferências na formação do padrão alimentar infantil

Os avanços da ciência, notadamente no âmbito da biotecnologia, geraram preocupação com a dimensão que estavam atingindo. A partir da década de 1970, esta preocupação assumiria um caráter científico com a conceituação pelo químico Van Rensselaer Potter da bioética global, que atentava para as implicações dos avanços da ciência sobre a vida (POTTER, 1970). Seguindo esta ótica, propomos, nos limites desse trabalho, analisar os documentários, que abordam as tensas relações da indústria alimentícia com a vida humana, a saúde e, em especial sua interposição decisiva na formação do padrão alimentar infantil.

Bioética: Das origens a alguns desafios contemporâneos

Na primeira parte deste artigo o autor realça o pioneirismo de Van Rensselaer Potter e faz uma apreciação de sua obra a partir de dois de seus discípulos, Gerald M. Lower e Peter J. Whitehouse. Na segunda, apresenta o desenvolvimento da bioetica a partir das três edições da Encyclopedia of Bioethics e, a partir da última edição (2004), prospecta alguns desafios atuais. Finalmente, na terceira e última parte, resume os últimos desdobramentos a partir dos congressos mundiais de Sidney (2004) e Pequim (2006).Abstract: In the first part of this article the author highlights Van Rensselaer Potter’s pioneering spirit and evaluates his work through the work of his two disciples, Gerald M. Lower and Peter J. Whitehouse. In the second part, he presents the development of bioethics as discussed in the three editions of Potter’s essential work, the Encyclopaedia of Bioethics (1978, 1995 and 2004) and on the basis of its most recent edition, and in cooperation with its chief-editor, Stephen Post, he explores some of the current challenges in this area of study. Finally, in the third and last part, the latest developments since the world congresses of Sidney (2004) and Beijing (2006).