33 Ethics of Environmental Health Michiel Korthals INTRODUCTION: ETHICAL ISSUES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH The ways societies are organized contribute in numerous ways to the health of individuals. By producing highways, factories, nature parks, airports, cycling paths and elevators, society promotes or harms, intentionally or unintentionally, the health of individuals. These societal factors go of course hand-in-hand with physical factors, such as weather, soil characteristics on which crops are cultivated and volcanoes. All these factors contribute to the environment of healthy and unhealthy individuals. The research and policy field of environmental health is therefore extremely complex and interdisciplinary and has many connections with other types of health research and policies (see for example Lawrence and Worsley, 2007). The ethics of environmental health gets its inspiration from the general task of ethics, i.e. to inquire first, about the presuppositions and consequences of actions with respect to the interests and wellbeing of living beings; second, what the most desirable distribution of benefits and losses between individuals and groups is; and last but not least, what the opportunities are of living in accordance with the values people have that represent a good life (Korthals, 2004). With these notions in mind, we can discern at least four significant types of ethical issues in the complex relationship of environmental factors and human health. The first concerns the identification of what environmental factors count as a problem (and what type of problem) in causing unhealthy consequences, and where the environmental causes can be located. Second, policy measures with respect to and doing research into environ- mental factors determining adverse effects on human health raises many ethical issues: e.g. what is better, ringing alarm bells or keeping silent about the problem? Third, the responsibility of the agencies involved is always at stake and often contested; and fourth, these agencies assume the right to intervene to reduce unhealthy conditions; moreover, the methods of intervention themselves demand ethical attention. 5519-Chadwick-Chap-33.indd 416 5519-Chadwick-Chap-33.indd 416 9/20/2010 6:06:05 PM 9/20/2010 6:06:05 PM