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Ethical Challenges for the Environment from Traditional and Complementary Medicine

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Traditional and Complementary Medicines: Are they Ethical for Humans, Animals and the Environment?

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Philosophy ((BRIEFSPHILOSOPH))

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Abstract

A healthy environment is essential for human (and animal) health. The delivery of healthcare services can have highly detrimental environmental impacts. For instance, the production, transport and storage of medicines may contribute to the depletion of natural resources and, at the same time, accelerate pollution of the environment with by-products and waste materials. Thus, health care that is intended to keep humans and animals healthy also contributes to ill-health. Given the burgeoning need to make health care more sustainable, the impact of T&CM, specifically herbal medicine, upon the environment is examined. Recommendations are given on how harm to the environment can be avoided and/or minimised. Since the wellbeing of the environment is intricately linked to the health of living organisms, an examination of the relationship between the environment and health is included.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ecosystems are collections of organisms that occur together in space and time and interact with each other and their physical environment (Wong and Candolin 2015).

  2. 2.

    Pharmaceuticals are also used in very large quantities as veterinary medicines, especially in the agricultural industry.

  3. 3.

    An entity here meaning anything from an individual to a large business or even nation.

  4. 4.

    Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types.

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  1. Centre for Professional Ethics, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK

    Kate Chatfield

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  1. Kate Chatfield
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Correspondence to Kate Chatfield .

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Chatfield, K. (2018). Ethical Challenges for the Environment from Traditional and Complementary Medicine. In: Traditional and Complementary Medicines: Are they Ethical for Humans, Animals and the Environment?. SpringerBriefs in Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05300-0_6

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