Main description:

Environmental health encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect human health, such as radiation, toxic chemicals and other hazardous agents. It is often assumed that the assessment part is just a matter of scientific research, and the control part a matter of implementing standards which unambiguously follow from that research. But it is less commonly understood that environmental health also requires addressing questions of an ethical nature.

How can we determine the "acceptable" risk level for the general population or for certain groups? How should we deal with uneven distributions of risks and benefits? How do we communicate about risks with the stakeholders? This multidisciplinary collection brings together a number of leading researchers and scholars in order to generate discussion surrounding these key questions, and to bring the ethical implications of science and technology to the forefront of critical thought.

Providing a broad overview of the Ethics of Environmental Health, its philosophical foundations and practical applications, this book offers a significant contribution to ongoing discussions in sustainable development and will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of Environmental Health, urban studies and healthcare.

Contents:

Foreword

Henk ten Have, Director, Pittsburgh, USA

former Director, Division of Ethics of Science and Technology, UNESCO

Part I. Insights from the Discussion of Related Topics

Global, Regional and Local Ecological Change:

Ethical Aspects for Public Health Research and PracticeColin L. Soskolne, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Environmental Ethics and Environmental PoliciesMarie Claire Cantone, Milan, Italy

Justice, Environmental Health Laws and Relations Between People

Carl Cranor, Riverside, California, USA

Part II. Principles

A Common Morality Approach to Environmental Health Ethics

Friedo Zoelzer, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Bioethics, the Precautionary Principle, and Future Generations

Robin Attfield, Cardiff, UK

Recent Reflections on the Ethical Basis of the System of Radiological ProtectionChristopher Clement, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Part III. Decision Making on Environmental Health Problems

The Phenomenology of Environmental Health Risk: Vulnerability to Modern Technological Risk, Alienation, and Risk Politics

Mark Coeckelbergh, Leicester, UK

Taking Public Opinion Serious in Post-Fukushima JapanMichio Miyasaka, Niigata, Japan

Better Living (in a Complex World) - An Ethics of Care for our Modern Co-Existence

Gaston Meskens, Mol, Belgium

Part IV: Ethics of Radiological Protection

Considerations on Medical Radiation UsageJurgen Kiefer, Giessen, Germany

Social and Ethical Issues in RemediationDeborah Oughton, As, Norway

Radioactive Waste: Some Ethical Aspects of its Disposal

Christian Streffer, Essen, Germany

Conclusions and recommendations