IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/envsyd/v44y2024i2d10.1007_s10669-024-09965-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can societal and ethical implications of precision microbiome engineering be applied to the built environment? A systematic review of the literature

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Hardwick

    (North Carolina State University
    North Carolina State University
    North Carolina State University)

  • Christopher Cummings

    (North Carolina State University
    North Carolina State University
    US Army Corps of Engineers)

  • Joseph Graves

    (North Carolina State University
    North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University)

  • Jennifer Kuzma

    (North Carolina State University
    North Carolina State University
    North Carolina State University)

Abstract

The goal of engineering the microbiome of the built environment is to create places and spaces that are better for human health. Like other emerging technologies, engineering the microbiome of the built environment may bring considerable benefits but there has been a lack of exploration on its societal implication and how to engineer in an ethical way. To date, this topic area has also not been pulled together into a singular study for any systematic review or analysis. This study fills this gap by providing the first a systematic review of societal and ethical implications of engineering microbiomes and the application of this knowledge to engineering the microbiome of the built environment. To organize and guide our analysis, we invoked four major ethical principles (individual good/non-maleficence, collective good/beneficence, autonomy, and justice) as a framework for characterizing and categorizing 15 distinct themes that emerged from the literature. We argue that these different themes can be used to explain and predict the social and ethical implications of engineering the microbiome of the built environment that if addressed adequately can help to improve public health as this field further develops at global scales.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Hardwick & Christopher Cummings & Joseph Graves & Jennifer Kuzma, 2024. "Can societal and ethical implications of precision microbiome engineering be applied to the built environment? A systematic review of the literature," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 215-238, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:44:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10669-024-09965-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10669-024-09965-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10669-024-09965-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10669-024-09965-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abigail Nieves Delgado & Jan Baedke, 2021. "Does the human microbiome tell us something about race?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Jennifer Kuzma & Todd Tanji, 2010. "Unpackaging synthetic biology: Identification of oversight policy problems and options," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(1), pages 92-112, March.
    3. O'Doherty, K.C. & Virani, A. & Wilcox, E.S., 2016. "The human microbiome and public health: Social and ethical considerations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(3), pages 414-420.
    4. Beth Greenhough & Andrew Dwyer & Richard Grenyer & Timothy Hodgetts & Carmen McLeod & Jamie Lorimer, 2018. "Unsettling antibiosis: how might interdisciplinary researchers generate a feeling for the microbiome and to what effect?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Jae-Chang Cho, 2021. "Human microbiome privacy risks associated with summary statistics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-11, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li Tang & Jennifer Kuzma & Xi Zhang & Xinyu Song & Yin Li & Hongxu Liu & Guangyuan Hu, 2023. "Synthetic biology and governance research in China: a 40-year evolution," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5293-5310, September.
    2. Beth Greenhough & Cressida Jervis Read & Jamie Lorimer & Javier Lezaun & Carmen McLeod & Amber Benezra & Sally Bloomfield & Tim Brown & Megan Clinch & Fulvio D’Acquisto & Anna Dumitriu & Joshua Evans , 2020. "Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Lenore Manderson, 2020. "Prescribing, care and resistance: antibiotic use in urban South Africa," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Nylund, Petra A. & Ferràs-Hernández, Xavier & Pareras, Luis & Brem, Alexander, 2022. "The emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems based on enabling technologies: Evidence from synthetic biology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 728-735.
    5. Bradshaw, Aaron, 2023. "The invisible city: The unglamorous biogeographies of urban microbial ecologies," SocArXiv drcuw, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:44:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10669-024-09965-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.