Ethics for vets: can ethics help to improve animal disease control?

S. Hartnack; H. Grimm; P. Kunzmann; M.G. Doherr; S. Aerts

Ethics for vets: can ethics help to improve animal disease control?

In: Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

Authors:

S. Hartnack

S. Hartnack ¹DCR-VPH, Vetsuisse Faculty, Univ. Bern, P.O. Box, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; sonja.hartnack@itn.unibe.ch

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H. Grimm

H. Grimm ²Institute Technology-Theology-Natural Sciences, Marsstr. 19, 80335 Munich, Germany

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P. Kunzmann

P. Kunzmann ³Ethics Center Jena, Zwaetzengasse 3, 07743 Jena, Germany

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M.G. Doherr

M.G. Doherr ¹DCR-VPH, Vetsuisse Faculty, Univ. Bern, P.O. Box, 3001 Bern, Switzerland; sonja.hartnack@itn.unibe.ch

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, and

S. Aerts

S. Aerts ⁴Catholic University College Ghent, Belgium

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 148–153

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086866731_024

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During major animal disease outbreaks in the EU controversial discussions arose about the ethical soundness of mass culling and vaccination. The ethical question ‘what should I do, all things considered?’ (Mepham, 2008), is clearly difficult to answer in this context especially for veterinarians who are not trained in ethical thinking. To clarify some of the ethical dilemmas which veterinarians face in their professional life, interdisciplinary workshops with ethicists and veterinarians from Switzerland, Germany and Austria were initiated. The discussions revealed that in an emergency situation like a contagious animal disease outbreak, official veterinarians are faced with various tasks and corresponding conflicting responsibilities. In some cases a clear lack of competence in specific fields, or responsibilities which reach beyond the professional competences of a veterinarian, were identified. The most prominent ethical dilemma was found in the attention paid to an efficient and fast disease control including culling interventions and animal welfare questions. In discussions on potential role conflicts of official veterinarians, three different and not necessarily congruent veterinary role models evolved, those of: (1) the general public (society); (2) the veterinary professional organizations and; (3) the self-perception of the individual veterinarian. Additionally, an unresolved question became evident: whereas the perspective of animal welfare ethics is focused on the individual animal (where transgressions are to be found on individuals) it remains open for discussion how this perspective could be extended to animal populations. Concerning the question about the (un-)justified killing of animals by veterinarians with regard to the ‘dignity of creature’ concept in the constitution of Switzerland, three dimensions became obvious. Whereas the first two dimensions are focused on the animal’s life (future and past) or the telos, the third dimension incorporates the concept of dignity and the animal-human bond. With the aim of identifying and discussing the ethical dilemmas in a prevailing animal disease, Bluetongue disease, currently emerging in North-Western Europe, was chosen. In different workshops the ethical matrix developed by Ben Mepham and the animal disease intervention matrix have been applied to Bluetongue disease control scenarios, with an intervention emphasis on compulsory mass vaccination. This matrix approach helped workshop participants to identify, structure, weigh and partly resolve the dilemmas mentioned.

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Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086866731

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 30 Oct 2009

Subjects
- Life Sciences

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Ethics for vets: can ethics help to improve animal disease control?

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Ethical futures: bioscience and food horizons

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