BMJ | 2019
The need for an ethics of responsibility in biodiversity
Abstract
Bernstein draws much needed attention to the catastrophic loss of biodiversity.1 I agree we need to think hard about medicine’s environmental impact, but we should go further than just reducing medicine’s ecological footprint. Bernstein argues we need to conserve biodiversity because we might benefit from possible future medical developments using other living organisms. This is a mindset where human beings …