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| 2. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962, et al.
(author)
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The Return of Lombroso? Ethical Aspects of (Visions of) Preventive Forensic Screening
- 2015
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In: Public Health Ethics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1754-9973 .- 1754-9981. ; 8:3, s. 270-283
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The vision of legendary criminologist Cesare Lombroso to use scientific theories of individual causes of crime as a basis for screening and prevention programmes targeting individuals at risk for future criminal behaviour has resurfaced, following advances in genetics, neuroscience and psychiatric epidemiology. This article analyses this idea and maps its ethical implications from a public health ethical standpoint. Twenty-seven variants of the new Lombrosian vision of forensic screening and prevention are distinguished, and some scientific and technical limitations are noted. Some lures, biases and structural factors, making the application of the Lombrosian idea likely in spite of weak evidence are pointed out and noted as a specific type of ethical aspect. Many classic and complex ethical challenges for health screening programmes are shown to apply to the identified variants and the choice between them, albeit with peculiar and often provoking variations. These variations are shown to actualize an underlying theoretical conundrum in need of further study, pertaining to the relationship between public health ethics and the ethics and values of criminal law policy.
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| 3. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Precaution and Ethics: Handling risks, uncertainties and knowledge gaps in the regulation of new biotechnologies
- 2017
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This volume outlines and analyses ethical issues actualized by applying a precautionary approach to the regulation of new biotechnologies. It presents a novel way of categorizing and comparing biotechnologies from a precautionary standpoint. Based on this, it addresses underlying philosophical problems regarding the ethical assessment of decision-making under uncertainty and ignorance, and discusses how risks and possible benefits of such technologies should be balanced from an ethical standpoint. It argues on conceptual and ethical grounds for a technology neutral regulation as well as for a regulation that not only checks new technologies but also requires old, inferior ones to be phased out. It demonstrates how difficult ethical issues regarding the extent and ambition of precautionary policies need to be handled by such a regulation, and presents an overarching framework for doing so.
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| 4. |
- Cutas, Daniela, 1978, et al.
(author)
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Legal imperialism in the regulation of stem cell research and therapy: the problem of extraterritorial jurisdiction
- 2010
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In: Capps BJ & Campbell AV (eds.). CONTESTED CELLS: Global Perspectives on the Stem Cell Debate. - London : Imperial College Press. - 9781848164376 ; , s. 95-119
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Countries worldwide have very different national regulations on human embryonic stem (ES) cell research, informed by a range of ethical values. Some countries find reason to extend the applicability of their regulations on such research to its citizens when they visit other countries. Extraterritorial jurisdiction has recently been identified as a potential challenge towards global regulation of ES cell research. This chapter explores the implications and impact of extraterritorial jurisdiction and global regulation of ES cell research on researchers, clinicians and national health systems, and how this may affect patients. The authors argue that it would make ethical sense for ES cell restrictive countries to extend its regulations on ES cell research beyond its borders, because, if these countries really consider embryo destruction to be objectionable on the basis on the status of the embryo, then they ought to count it morally on par with murder (and thus have a moral imperative to protect embryos from the actions of its own citizens). However, doing so could lead to a legal situation that would result in substantial harm to central values in areas besides research, such as health care, the job market, basic freedom of movement, and strategic international finance and politics. Thus, it seems that restrictive extraterritorial jurisdiction in respect to ES cell research would be deeply problematic, given that the ethical permissibility of ES cell research is characterised by deep and wide disagreement.
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| 5. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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The Price of Precaution and the Ethics of Risk
- 2011
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Since a couple of decades, the notion of a precautionary principle plays a central and increasingly influential role in international as well as national policy and regulation regarding the environment and the use of technology. Urging society to take action in the face of potential risks of human activities in these areas, the recent focus on climate change has further sharpened the importance of this idea. However, the idea of a precautionary principle has also been problematised and criticised by scientists, scholars and policy activists, and been accused of almost every intellectual sin imaginable: unclarity, impracticality, arbitrariness and moral as well as political unsoundness. In that light, the very idea of precaution as an ideal for policy making rather comes out as a dead end. On the basis of these contrasting starting points, Christian Munthe undertakes an innovative, in-depth philosophical analysis of what the idea of a precautionary principle is and should be about. A novel theory of the ethics of imposing risks is developed and used as a foundation for defending the idea of precaution in environmental and technological policy making against its critics, while at the same time avoiding a number of identified flaws. The theory is shown to have far-reaching consequences for areas such as bio-, information- and nuclear technology, and global environmental policy in areas such as climate change. The author argues that, while the price we pay for precaution must not be too high, we have to be prepared to pay it in order to act ethically defensible. A number of practical suggestions for precautionary regulation and policy making are made on the basis of this, and some challenges to basic ethical theory as well as consumerist societies, the global political order and liberal democracy are identified
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| 9. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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A New Ethical Landscape of Prenatal Testing: Individualizing Choice to Serve Autonomy and Promote Public Health: A Radical Proposal
- 2015
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In: Bioethics. - : Wiley. - 0269-9702 .- 1467-8519. ; 29:1, s. 36-45
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A new landscape of prenatal testing (PNT) is presently developing, including new techniques for risk-reducing, non-invasive sampling of foetal DNA and drastically enhanced possibilities of what may be rapidly and precisely analysed, surrounded by a growing commercial genetic testing industry and a general trend of individualization in healthcare policies. This article applies a set of established ethical notions from past debates on PNT for analysing PNT screening-programmes in this new situation. While some basic challenges of PNT stay untouched, the new development supports a radical individualization of how PNT screening is organized. This reformation is, at the same time, difficult to reconcile with responsible spending of resources in a publicly funded healthcare context. Thus, while the ethical imperative of individualization holds and applies to PNT, the new landscape of PNT provides reasons to start rolling back the type of mass-screening programmes currently established in many countries. Instead, more limited offers are suggested, based on considerations of severity of conditions and optimized to simultaneously serve reproductive autonomy and public health within an acceptable frame of priorities. The new landscape of PNT furthermore underscores the ethical importance of supporting and including people with disabilities. For the very same reason, no ban on what may be analysed using PNT in the new landscape should be applied, although private offers must, of course, conform to strict requirements of respecting reproductive autonomy and what that means in terms of counselling.
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| 10. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Precautionary Principle
- 2013
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In: International Encyclopedia of Ethics. - Chichester : Blackwell. - 9781444367072 ; , s. 4031-4039
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Following the statement in the United Nations' Rio Declaration of 1992 that countries should apply a “precautionary approach” in policymaking on environmental and technological issues, the notion of a precautionary principle (PP) has gained ground in worldwide policymaking and regulation, thus catching the interest of ethics scholars. Although seldom explained in much detail, and resulting in quite different policy results in different countries and areas (O'Riordan et al. 2001; Sandin 1999; Trouwborst 2002; Zander 2010), PP is generally understood as a norm urging or permitting policymakers to take preventive action in the face of unknown, uncertain, or probable dangers, motivated by the experience of how seemingly valuable and promising practices may lead to seriously adverse consequences in spite of lack of solid evidence to this effect (Sandin 1999). In ethics debate, this idea has been applied not only to matters regarding the large-scale introduction and use of technology (e.g., regarding energy production, transport and communication, nano- or biotechnology, and so on) (see Biotechnology; Nanotechnology, Ethics of) with possible ensuing impact on the natural environment connecting to the notion of sustainability (see Sustainability), but also, for example, to abortion (see Abortion), medical genetics, embryo experimentation (see Embryo Research), the treatment of animals (see Animal Experimentation), terrorism (see Terrorism), and general research ethics (see Research Ethics) (Munthe 2011). Many of these applications advocate strong conclusions in spite of the fact that PP or its normative justification have not been made very clear. At the same time, PP has been the subject of criticism, much of which boils down to three points: lack of clarity, lack of practicality, and/or ethical implausibility. Curiously, these critical points have often been made in conjunction, in spite of the fact that a clear sense of what PP means seems necessary for backing up the other two objections.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Precaution, bioethics and normative justification
- 2015
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In: Monash Bioethics Review. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1321-2753 .- 1836-6716. ; 33:2, s. 219-225
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Review (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Daniel Steel’s new book on the precautionary principle illustrates the need to work ahead to fuse perspectives of epistemology and philosophy of science with those of ethics to accomplish progress in the debate on the proper role of precaution in a broad selection of bioethical areas. Steel advances the territory greatly with regard to conceptual clarity and epistemology, but from a bioethics standpoint he is mistaken in discounting the need for ethical underpinnings of a sound theory of the precautionary principle.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Precautionary Principle
- 2015
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In: Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. - Dordrecht : Springer. - 9783319055442
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Precautionary reasoning has deep historical and wide cross-cultural roots in the ethics of health, health care, and medical research. As in general ethics, however, this side of bioethical thinking has not been the subject of focused critical analysis until recently. The emergence of the precautionary principle (PP) in general environmental and technology policy debate has, after an initial period of confusion, resulted in a range of possible ideas about the value of precaution and what sacrifices it may be worth. This has indicated some need for developments in ethical as well as decision theory. In bioethical debates, this process has left only vague traces, however. Although many issues exist where precautionary reasoning has a place, this is either often left unnoticed or arguments developed suffer from elementary flaws. Environmental and general public health ethics, the ethics of evidence-based practice in research, as well as clinical decision-making, management of normative or factual uncertainty, and the nature of clinical ethical virtues are all areas where precautionary ideas seem to have a place. Such reasoning moreover has specific relevance for global approaches to bioethics and health policy issues in a number of ways.
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| 16. |
- Nihlén Fahlquist, Jessica, Docent, 1976-
(author)
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Individual Virtues and Structures of Virtue in Public Health
- 2022
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In: Public Health Ethics. - : Oxford University Press. - 1754-9973 .- 1754-9981. ; 15:1, s. 11-15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Public health ethics is commonly analyzed within a consequentialist or rights-based perspective, but recent approaches explore public health from a virtue ethical perspective. Rozier focuses on the virtues of individual members of the public and I discuss public health professionals. MacKay emphasizes the role of the collective level, the practice and social structure of public health. The structure can be important in two ways. First, it potentially affects the cultivation of the virtues of individuals. Second, the structure itself could have virtues. MacKay defends the latter notion and argues that structures become objective reality that is non-reducible to individuals. She implicitly describes public health as an actor, as having hopes and aspirations. MacKay’s account is an interesting contribution to the field. I agree with that the social structure is important but argue that it is primarily important in relation to the cultivation of individual virtues. Public health is not an agent and if it is described as such, it needs a supporting argument concerning moral group agency. I argue that there are no collectives without individuals. Future studies should focus on the links between the individual and social levels and discuss which virtues are the most important.
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
- Sandin, Per, et al.
(author)
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Technology neutrality and regulation of agricultural biotechnology
- 2018
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In: Professionals in food chains: ethics, rules and responsibility. EurSafe 2018, Vienna, Austria 13 – 16 June 2018 / edited by: Svenja Springer, Herwig Grimm. - Wageningen, Netherlands : Wageningen Academic Publishers. - 9789086863211
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Agricultural biotechnology, in particular genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is subject to regulation in many areas of the world, not least in the European Union (EU). A number of authors have argued that those regulatory processes are unfair, costly, and slow and that regulation therefore should move in the direction of increased ‘technology neutrality’. The issue is becoming more pressing, especially since new biotechnologies such as CRISPR increasingly blur the regulatory distinction between GMOs and non-GMOs. This paper offers a definition of technology neutrality, uses the EU GMO regulation as a starting point for exploring technology neutrality, and presents distinctions between variants of the call for technology neutral GMO regulation in the EU.
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Pragmatic Challenges in Practical Ethics
- 2023
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In: In: Garcia, A., Gunnemyr, M. & Werkmäster, J. Value, Morality & Social Reality: Essays dedicated to Dan Egonsson, Björn Petersson & Toni Rønnow-Rasmussen.. - Lund : Department of Philosophy, Lund University. - 9789189415669 ; , s. 275-285
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This brief essay traces a development of orthodox applied ethics into a present-day variant of practical ethics, where pragmatic reasons may upset ideal theoretically and empirically informed epistemically supported ethical prescriptions when these are to be implemented in a real context. This shift comes with a development where the applied ethicists of older days are nowadays aiming for much more specific and practically useful action-guidance, and for activist involvement to support feasible implementation of ethical prescriptions. This results in a strongly and moderately activist variant of practical ethics, both of which face specific challenges due to the necessity of considering pragmatic reasons. I argue that the radical variant has trouble managing these challenges. The moderate variant may manage them, but this may require substantial methodological development.
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| 21. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Precautionary Principle
- 2016
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In: Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics, edited by Henk Ten have. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783319094823 ; , s. 2257-2265
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Precautionary reasoning has deep historical and wide cross-cultural roots in the ethics of health, health care and medical research. As in general ethics, however, this side of bioethical thinking has not been the subject of focused critical analysis until recently. The emergence of the precautionary principle (PP) in general environmental and technology policy debate has, after an initial period of confusion, resulted in a range of possible ideas about the value of precaution and what sacrifices it may be worth. This has indicated some need for developments in ethical as well as decision theory. In bioethical debates, this process has left only vague traces, however. Although many issues exist where precautionary reasoning has a place, this is either often left unnoticed, or arguments developed suffer from elementary flaws. Environmental and general public health ethics, the ethics of evidence-based practice in research as well as clinical decision-making, management of normative or factual uncertainty and the nature of clinical ethical virtues are all areas where precautionary ideas seem to have a place. Such reasoning moreover has specific relevance for global approaches to bioethics and health policy issues in a number of ways.
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| 22. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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Precautionary Principle (Version 2)
- 2020
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In: International Encyclopedia of Ethics (2020 Update). - Chichester : Wiley. - 9781444367072
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ethical debate linking to the precautionary principle (PP) addresses underlying issues regarding the ethics of risk, uncertainty, and public policy. It has evolved quickly from an initial stage of skepticism and scorn, based on critique regarding unclarity, impracticality, and ethical unjustifiability. Nowadays, these points are incorporated into systematic debates on how to best understand and justify a precautionary approach to decision‐ and policy‐making. The general ethical idea behind PP says that in the face of an activity that may produce great harm, we (or society) have reason to ensure that the activity is not undertaken, unless it has been shown not to impose too serious risks. Recent debate has highlighted an epistemic perspective, dividing the debate into two main areas: (a) epistemic precaution, and (b) ethics of risk, which may be related to each other in different ways. With regard to these dimensions, an ethical theory of precaution needs to clarify what determines whether an activity may produce great harm (actualizing both (a) and (b)), what determines whether or not some risk is too serious (actualizing (b)), and what is required to show that too serious risks are not imposed (actualizing (a)). Several competing basic suggestions are in play regarding these issues, actualizing questions about the relationship between traditional ethical theory and the ethics of risk. All suggestions have wide applicability to contested moral and policy areas regarding the use of technology and environmental action, but much work remains to clarify what difference a sound PP makes for these.
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| 23. |
- Munthe, Christian, 1962
(author)
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The role of pragmatics in practical ethics
- 2022
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In: Filosofidagarna: Swedish Congress of Philosophy, Lund University, June 10th-June 12th, 2022. - Lund.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)
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