Relationship between Moral Responsibility for Zoonotic Pandemics Outbreaks and Industrial Animal Farms

Abstract

The responsibility for the COVID-19 pandemic was first ascribed to persons associated with the Huanan Seafood Market. However, many scientists suggest that this pandemic is actually a consequence of human intrusion into nature. This opens up a whole new perspective for an examination of direct and indirect, individual and collective responsibility concerning this particular pandemic, but also zoonotic pandemics as such. In this context, one of the key issues are the consequences of factory-farming of animals, which contributes to circumstances in which zoonotic pandemics emerge. Moreover, it is part of a larger economic system, global capitalism, whose logic implies certain coercion toward its participants to keep it essentially unchanged and therefore to make sure that livestock health remains “the weakest link in our global health chain” (FAO). However, even though the precise answer to the issue of moral responsibility for zoonotic pandemics outbreaks in general and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular cannot be given, it is possible to list certain indicators and make a framework helpful in ascribing moral responsibility to certain persons. The paper intends to do so by examining the notion of responsibility and by applying it to the issues mentioned. The results of this analysis show that it is misleading to place moral blame on people involved in actions that directly caused the animal-to-human transmission of a certain virus or on humanity as a whole.

Odgovornost za pandemiju COVID-19 prvo je bila pripisana osobama vezanima uz tržnicu morske hrane Huanan. Međutim, mnogi naučnici sugerišu da je ova pandemija rezultat čo vekovih upada u netaknutu prirodu. Ovo otvara čitavu novu perspektivu za sagledavanje izravne i posredne te individualne i kolektivne odgovornosti za ovu pandemiju, no i za zoo notske pandemije uopšte. U ovom kontekstu, među ključne probleme spadaju posledice in dustrijskog uzgoja životinja, koji uveliko pridonosi okolnostima u kojima zoonotske pande mije izbijaju. Štaviše, on je dio šireg konteksta globalnog kapitalizma, ekonomskog sistema čija logika implicira izvesnu prisilu nametnutu onima koji u njoj participiraju, naime, da ovu vrstu uzgoja ostave bitno nepromenjenu, pa da tako osiguraju da zdravlje stoke ostane „naj slabija karika u našem globalnom zdravstvenom lancu“ (FAO). Međutim, premda precizan odgovor na pitanje moralne odgovornosti za izbijanje pandemija, posebno one aktuelne, ne može biti dan, moguće je navesti izvesne indikatore i izgraditi okvir koji bi mogli pomoći u zadatku pripisivanja moralne odgovornosti određenim osobama. Ovaj rad to namerava izvesti sagledavanjem samog pojma odgovornosti i primenom te refleksije na spomenute probleme. Rezultati ove analize pokazuju varljivost pripisivanja moralne krivice ljudima uključenima u aktivnosti koje su izravno uzrokovale prenos izvesnog virusa sa životinje na čoveka, kao i čovečanstvu u celini za stvaranje uslova za prenos.