Mason Institute Webinar Series: One Health Ethics: Just(ice) Do It — Why Including Animals as Subjects of Justice May Help Address Global Problems
Location:
Online only
Date/time
Tue 26 November 2024
13:00-14:00
We as a global community are facing many complex problems—climate change, antimicrobial resistance, collapsing biodiversity, etc.— which have already had huge impacts on every life on the planet. If left unaddressed, these problems will drastically reduce future quality of life; however, often only the effects of these issues are investigated, not their wider causes. The One Health paradigm, which acknowledges the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, is one way of addressing these wider causes. However, while well-intentioned, this paradigm often falters between theory and practice.
My research investigates this transition from concept to execution, looking into the bioethical implications of implementing a One Health paradigm. This examination brings up several questions: does this paradigm view health through an anthropomorphic lens, relegating nonhuman health as purely instrumental to human health? Is nonhuman health important in itself and, if so, ought nonhuman health be considered equally and simultaneously to human health as a matter of justice?
As part of my research, I will explore the benefits and limitations of the One Health paradigm with respect to nonhuman health justice. I will establish that nonhuman health should matter in a non-derivative way and that valuing nonhuman health can improve overall global health justice. I will also adopt a cosmopolitan approach to nonhuman health, arguing that nonhuman entities ought to have both health protecting and health promoting measures that encourage beings to flourish. Ultimately, my research aims to equally integrate human and nonhuman health under a One Health and global justice framework.
About the Speaker
Emma Nance is a final-year PhD student on the Wellcome Trust funded programme One Health Models of Disease: Science, Ethics, and Society. She is from New York but has studied for several years in Scotland, first completing an undergraduate degree in English Literature in 2019 and completing an LLM in Medical Law and Ethics in 2020.
Emma's current work examines the bioethical implications of human and non-human biosurveillance with a view towards integrating and updating the policies under a One Health and global justice framework. This work is conducted under the auspices of the Roslin Institute and the Usher Institute and supervised by Dr. Sarah Chan, Professor Lisa Boden, Dr. Emily Postan, and Dr. Juliet Duncan.