Ethical Challenges in Scientific Studies Within One Health

Area of Science:

• Interdisciplinary studies
• Environmental science
• Public health
• Veterinary medicine
• Ecology

Background:

• One Health approaches integrate human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health.
• Ethical considerations have been largely absent in One Health research.
• This review addresses the current state of One Health ethics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the state of the art in One Health ethics.
• To summarize key findings from the limited ethical discussions in One Health.
• To propose future directions for the field of One Health ethics.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of One Health ethics.
• Synthesis of existing ethical discussions within One Health.
• Identification of key themes and future trends.

Main Results:

• Key ethical discussions include the imperative for One Health, ecosystem value, health normativity, core concepts, and decision models.
• One Health ethics is underdeveloped and requires significant scholarly attention.
• Future trends involve developing ethical decision models, bridging anthropocentric and ecocentric viewpoints, and balancing ethical and economic valuations.

Conclusions:

• One Health ethics needs to be a core science within One Health approaches.
• Addressing complex global crises requires robust ethical frameworks.
• Further research is needed to develop comprehensive ethical guidelines and decision-making tools for One Health.