Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Biodiversity

The need for an ethics of responsibility in biodiversity

BMJ 2019; 366 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4811 (Published 23 July 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;366:l4811
  1. Michael E van Beinum, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist (retired)
  1. Selkirk TD7 5LZ, UK
  1. michael{at}vanbeinum.org

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 …

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