Ethical Dilemmas in Protecting Susceptible Subpopulations From Environmental Health Risks: Liberty,Utility, Fairness,and Accountability for Reasonableness

Various U.S. laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Food Quality Protection Act, require additional protections for susceptible subpopulations who face greater environmental health risks. The main ethical rationale for providing these protections is to ensure that environmental health risks are distributed fairly. In this article, we (1) consider how several influential theories of justice deal with issues related to the distribution of environmental health risks; (2) show that these theories often fail to provide specific guidance concerning policy choices; and (3) argue that an approach to public decision making known as accountability for reasonableness can complement theories of justice in establishing acceptable environmental health risks for the general population and susceptible subpopulations. Since accountability for reasonableness focuses on the fairness of the decision-making process, not the outcome, it does not guarantee that susceptible subpopulations will receive a maximum level of protection, regardless of costs or other morally relevant considerations.     

急性高原病易感人群筛选研究的一些思考

高原缺氧存在易感人群,目前对高原易感人群的筛查主要从进入高原前后人体功能、组织因子及蛋白的变化等方面进行研究,有学者开始从基因水平筛查高原易感人群,基因研究虽然面临许多困难,但它可能是高原易感人群筛查中最有前景的研究方法,应是今后研究的重要方向。