On irresponsibility in times of crisis: learning from the response to the Zika virus outbreak

ABSTRACT

This perspective paper offers some first thoughts regarding the current Zika virus outbreak and the immediate response it generated in health and research policy. We suggest that in times of emergent health crises, irresponsibilities may arise in the way responses which involve science and technology are framed and implemented. These pertain both to how such situations emerge under a crisis frame, and to pre-existing irresponsibilities which condition how such crises unfold. Reflecting on these irresponsibilities helps to clarify both how crucial it is to promote responsibility in research and innovation in everyday situations, and how important it is to maintain vigilance in times of crisis. We argue that care for the future needs to incorporate attention to persisting inequalities, which become especially salient in moments of emergency and which condition how crises are dealt with and the role innovation is perceived to play in their solution.

KEYWORDS:

• Zika virus
• responsible research and innovation
• public health ethics
• research policy

Notes on contributors

Marko Monteiro is an anthropologist with a PhD in Social Sciences (2005), currently an Assistant Professor of STS at the Science and Technology Policy Department (UNICAMP – Brazil). He coordinates the Interdisciplinary Research Group in Science and Technology (GEICT) since 2011, and has published works related to interdisciplinary work in science and the development of remote sensing knowledge in Brazil.

Clare Shelley-Egan is a senior researcher at the Research Group on Responsible Innovation, Oslo, and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences. Her research interests include ethics and governance of new and emerging science and technologies. She is currently project leader on the Naturalness in Human Cognitive Enhancement (HCENAT) project, a project funded by Norway Grants.

Jim Dratwa's research and publications address the interconnections between knowledge, values and action. He heads the team tasked with Ethics in Science and New Technologies at the European Commission, he is the Secretary-General of the EC International Dialogue on Bioethics and Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC.

ORCID

Marko Monteiro http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4008-4985

Notes

1. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brazil-zika-outbreak-too-much-for-government-health-to-handle/

2. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/

3. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28755033, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/ebola-zero-liberia/en/

4. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32589268

5. http://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/noticias/microcefalia-trara-geracao-de-sequelados-diz-medica

6. http://www.newsweek.com/new-evidence-supports-zika-microcephaly-connection-428736

7. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/12116589/Birth-defects-in-Latin-America-spark-Zika-virus-panic.html

8. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/business/test-of-zika-fighting-genetically-altered-mosquitoes-gets-tentative-fda-approval.html

9. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-radiation-idUSKCN0VV2JK

10. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/zika-virus-epidemic-abortion-birth-control-access-latin-america-united-nations

11. http://www.forbes.com/sites/arthurcaplan/2016/06/10/scientists-say-the-rio-olympics-should-be-postponed-due-to-zika/#23d833634b45

12. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/zika-epidemic-reproductive-rights-women-latin-america-amnesty-international

13. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/opinion/the-zika-virus-and-brazilian-womens-right-to-choose.html?_r=0

14. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-inequality-insight-idUSKCN0WH0EH

15. https://fxb.harvard.edu/4941-2/

16. One example is the Cura Zika Project, led by the University of Pittsburgh: https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/curazika?_rdr.

17. Brazil's FAPESP has made generous funds available, setting up a research network: Rede Zika (http://agencia.fapesp.br/rede_zika_elenca_prioridades_e_define_estrategias_de_operacao/22706/).

18. The European Commission funded Progress (PROmoting Global REsponsible Research and Social and Scientific innovation) project, for example, aimed to link existing international networks of RRI with relevant societal actors on a global scale to focus innovation on societal desirability.

19. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/30/brazil-zika-war-virus-military-operation

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation [grant number 1257246].