Climate change has a significant impact on human health. Research in this area is crucial for developing effective methods to reduce its effects. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) play a crucial role in detecting potential gaps, mapping out patterns of consequences on vulnerable populations, health systems, and emphasising gaps in climate and health/biomedical research in specific geographic areas. In addition, IRBs are responsible for making decisions on the study’s adherence to the (bio)ethical principles of data privacy and confidentiality, equality and diversity, inclusivity, and respect for research participants' dignity.
This editorial introduces a special issue of the Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics based on the 2024 conference Humans and Other Animals: Rattling the Paradigm, hosted by the University of South Africa. Bringing together emerging scholars from across the Global South, the event explored human–animal relationships through philosophical, social, and artistic perspectives. The six articles in this issue present diverse approaches to animal ethics, emphasizing dialogue and collaboration across cultures and disciplines.
Good care is the reflection of care ethics. To improve the quality of care, moral behavior is needed in addition to law and regulation. Personal involvement and motivation of care are important elements of good care. Thus, health care provider must change their perspective. Their education on medical ethics needs to be more practically oriented rather than theoretical. In addition, ethical reflection is a contextual and experiential learning process. Bioethics training is required in order to foster, inter alia, the moral power of imagination of care providers. This issue of the Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics is designated with articles on ethics in patient care
This study delves into how social media is revolutionizing animal welfare efforts in Dhaka, Bangladesh, focusing on both community-driven initiatives and legal advocacy. Using qualitative methods such as digital ethnography and semi-structured interviews, the study examines how online platforms are transforming individual acts of animal rescue into broader, organized movements. Theoretical insights from Benedict Anderson’s "Imagined Communities" and Erving Goffman’s Framing Theory shed light on how digital spaces create collective identities and influence public attitudes. By 2024, local animal welfare groups had evolved from merely rescuing and adopting animals to actively engaging in legal battles and policy advocacy. The study highlights how social media not only builds strong support networks and raises awareness but also empowers new activists by keeping them engaged in awareness related activities, bringing justice to animals, and staying connected among themselves for a common cause. The study also enhances the understanding of how digital platforms can drive meaningful social change and offers a framework for applying similar strategies to other advocacy efforts.
In this article, I use a critical animal studies (CAS) lens to examine what it means to create and view photographs of roadside zoo animals. As a photographer and CAS researcher, I am particularly interested in situations where animal suffering is clearly visible, yet ignored, or perhaps framed as something else, such as entertainment. Since roadside zoos are legally sanctioned, open to the public, and encourage visitors to take pictures, they can be a powerful tool to reframe what it means to look at animal suffering. Roadside zoos are typically privately owned, unaccredited menageries charging an admission fee. They exist in every state in the USA, and they are legal. Through my photography, I hope to picture captive animals as individuals, and create photographs that empathetically call attention to the animal's boredom, frustration, and suffering through confinement. In this article, I discuss my “Roadside Zoo” photography series that I created while working on my dissertation (2025). Specifically I analyze the ethics of looking at and photographing roadside zoo animals from a CAS perspective. This includes an examination of issues of power, representation, perception, and empathy for both the photographer and the viewer. I conclude with a discussion of an artistic intervention that I made to these photographs, and examine how these altered visuals might allow us to better “see” the impact of incarceration on these zoo animals.
You are cordially requested to join the Bangladesh Bioethics Society's International Event , 24th Asian Bioethics Conference, to be held on 5-7 Feb 2026 at the State University of Bangladesh, Purbachal, Kanchan, Bangladesh. Theme: Bioethics in building Nation-States
Illegal dog-fighting in South Africa is a crime that remains unchallenged within affected communities, putting both dogs and people at risk. Notwithstanding efforts to combat dogfighting in Cape Town, the practice remains largely unregulated and poorly enforced by animal welfare authorities. To address this gap, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA (Cape SPCA) anti-dog-fighting outreach program involves the community through proactive, weekly organized campaigns targeting affected communities. This outreach program aims to train citizens whose intervention can be crucial in providing emergency first aid for dogs by recognizing, reporting, and preventing dog-fighting through various community outreach campaigns. Consequently, community members play a vital role in raising awareness and educating others about the crime of dog-fighting. By conducting a desktop study of the Cape SPCA’s website and other relevant sources, this article highlights several key tactics the animal welfare organization has employed to combat dog-fighting in affected communities and help prevent the illegal activity from escalating. With the support of local governance, viz, the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement, the Cape SPCA works to integrate local anti-dog-fighting mechanisms to combat the illegal practice in Cape Town. This review aims to demonstrate that this community outreach programme can be proactive and effective in addressing the issue of dog fighting in the city.
This essay seeks to understand the relationship between dogs and the green snake, in a bid to illuminate their special status among the Tiv people of Central Nigeria. The Tiv are known for their great love for meat. The desire and love of meat propelled their ancestors into a culture of hunting and farming to ingratiate this insatiable need. However, respect and the conservation of a select breed of animals calls for a close study and special attention to understand why other animals are not edible. The Tiv share a common cosmological history and ontology with animals like dogs and the green snake. These animals are considered sacred and respected totems that the Tiv are forbidden to kill and eat. This research seeks to answer the question of how the Tiv people perceive the agency and special status of dogs and the green snake in their cultured area and the role played by animals in Tiv spiritual and cultural traditions. What ethical implications arise from these ontologies, particularly regarding animal rights, welfare, and conservation? These research questions will open diverse perspectives to the discourse on African animal ethics. This research also investigated and unveils the diverse perspectives on human-animal relationships and informs the development of an African animal ethics that incorporates indigenous knowledge systems. This research adopted a historicist, cultural, and evaluative approach in answering these questions. It argues that there are several similar totem practices in African cultures, many of which are gradually becoming obsolescent, which can be reclaimed and leveraged to liberate non-human animals to establish a viable African animal ethics.
This editorial introduces a special issue of the Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics based on the 2024 conference Humans and Other Animals: Rattling the Paradigm, hosted by the University of South Africa. Bringing together emerging scholars from across the Global South, the event explored human–animal relationships through philosophical, social, and artistic perspectives. The six articles in this issue present diverse approaches to animal ethics, emphasizing dialogue and collaboration across cultures and disciplines.
Amid ongoing debates on animal ethics, this study investigates whether the culturally and spiritually grounded values of Bengali traditions provide a more accessible and effective framework than modern abstract ethical theories such as Peter Singer’s utilitarianism and Tom Regan’s animal rights theory, particularly in the context of Bangladesh. While Western ethical theories provide intellectual scholarship and universal principles, their reliance on rational abstraction often renders them detached from the lived realities of culturally embedded societies. Conversely, some Bengali traditions, particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism, grounded in ahimsa (non-violence) and relational ethics, offer a pragmatic, emotionally resonant, and culturally integrated ethical paradigm that is more intuitive and applicable in daily life. To substantiate this hypothesis, a 40-day empirical study involving 17 participants was conducted. In Phase 1, participants were introduced to Western ethical theories and instructed to apply these principles in real-life contexts. In Phase 2, they engaged with the Bengali cultural and spiritual frameworks of Hinduism and Buddhism, including the ahimsa doctrine and other religious teachings emphasizing compassion toward animals. The findings revealed that nearly 80% of participants found cultural and spiritual frameworks to be more comprehensible and practically applicable than the abstract reasoning of Western theories. Furthermore, participants reported natural behavioral shifts toward avoiding harm to animals, attributing this change to a deeper emotional and moral connection made by spiritual teachings. Three core propositions emerge from the analysis. First, ahimsa functions as a pragmatic ethical middle ground, bridging the flexibility of utilitarianism with the moral absolutism of animal rights theory. Second, relational ethics in Bengali Hindu and Buddhist philosophy decenters anthropocentrism, proposing a worldview that emphasizes the interdependence of humans, animals, and the environment. Third, spirituality in Hinduism and Buddhism offers an intrinsically motivating, culturally embedded ethical framework that proves more sustainable and emotionally accessible than abstract philosophical reasoning. This paper argues that Bengali cultural and spiritual teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism present a more effective, enduring, and culturally congruent model for promoting animal ethics in Bangladesh, where moral frameworks such as ahimsa (non-violence) and relational ethics are genuinely intertwined with spiritual and cultural narratives.
The use of non-human animals as a category of sacrificial items in Yoruba rituals raises a fundamental question of whether animals’ rights discourse and advocacy have had some restricting influence on how non-human animals are rather treated as ritual disposables in Yoruba rituals. While the sacrifice of non-human animals is upheld in Yoruba culture as a part of the moral construct of the Yoruba society the act raises an ethical question as to whether or not there is any moral consideration for the interest of the non-human animals sacrificed to ensure cosmic stability. This paper raises the question of selecting non-human animals for the purpose of securing the universe inhabited by non-human animals and humans in view of a perceived silence regarding this question in Yoruba ritual scholarship. The paper contends that the socio-moral framework of the Yoruba culture is not such that is avers to the consideration of the interest of non-human animals. Hence, on the strength of the basic contention of the stage theory of moral development as explained by Judith Boss (1999) this paper will assert that there is need to reconsider the use of non-human animals in Yoruba rituals by aspiring to a higher level of moral development which could enhance the protection of the interest of non-human animals.
Call for Abstracts for our next special November 2025 issue of BJBio vol 16 Issue 3, 2025 of the Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics on Human, Non-Human, and other Animal Relationships. Dr Rainer Ebert, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Houston Community College, Texas, USA; Motlatsi Khosi and Kala Bopape, Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology, University of South Africa (Unisa), Pretoria, South Africa, are the Guest Editors of this issue.
This review examines the critical role of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in facilitating ethical climate change and health research in Bangladesh, a nation highly vulnerable to climate-sensitive diseases. The inadequacy of reliable health impact data, coupled with disparities in public perception of climate change risks influenced by socioeconomic factors, underscores the urgency for ethically sound research. This study systematically reviewed peer-reviewed journals, conference papers, institutional reports, and policy documents published within the last decade, focusing on ethical challenges in climate studies and the function of IRBs. Thematic analysis revealed key areas: the paramount importance of research ethics (including informed consent and privacy), the multifaceted impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies, the complexities and challenges faced by IRBs (especially in developing countries), the critical consideration of vulnerability in research participants, the issue of corruption in adaptation efforts, and the necessity of effective stakeholder engagement. The findings emphasize the interconnectedness of ethical principles, climate change challenges, and institutional responsibilities, advocating for interdisciplinary approaches. The review concludes by highlighting the need to strengthen the capacity of Ethical Review Committees, promote stakeholder engagement, integrate ethics into climate change policies, prioritize addressing vulnerability, and enhance institutional integrity to ensure equitable and sustainable solutions in Bangladesh.
The ethics committee (EC) promotes ethical evaluation of biomedical research to safeguard and well-being of all potential research participants. Assessment of research protocol, patient information leaflet, informed consent form, questionnaire, and any other supporting documents is a moral and legal obligation to EC. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), to be a member of EC requires a basic certification. However, this practice is uncertain in Bangladesh. This short communication highlights how EC members learn research ethics.
Many discussions have been held on the impact of climate change, infrastructure development, and minimizing the displacement and resilience in developing countries, including Bangladesh. Climate change is one of the risk factors for vulnerability. Nonetheless, the role of the IRB (Institutional Review Board) regarding climate change issues during protocol review is lacking. Currently, the Bangladesh Bioethics Society (BBS) has organized workshops on the IRB on climate change in health research. This initiatives represent a new episode in Bangladesh. This article highlights information about the current awareness programme that may be of interest to readers and policy guidelines. The perceptions and expectations of IRB members regarding workshops were captured through qualitative assessment to improve future workshops on climate change.
Introduction: Climate change is a global environmental threat that affects societies involuntarily, making it one of the greatest health inequities present days. Now a day, Research is concentrated on understanding the extensive consequences of climate change on health and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to adjust and alleviate these effects. Special ethical consideration and actions is required in this occasion to address additional ethical questions and concerns than the conventional one. The Institutional Ethical Review Board (IERB) is vital in maintaining ethical standards in research by safeguarding the rights, safety, and well-being of participants. They evaluate research protocols, examine potential risks and benefits, and offer researchers advice on ethical matters and adherence to regulations either by modification/update or continuing review of the protocol. Purpose: Find out the gap and solution between climate change, health research and ethics. Focus: IERB could play a pivotal role to fill this gap by facilitating policy makers about increase awareness of the importance of ethics in this regard, possessing action guide for the health practitioners that reflecting good ethical practice during research and incorporating IERB.
Climate change has emerged as a significant threat to global development, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, particularly in developing countries like Bangladesh. This paper explores the complex relationships between climate change and vulnerability, highlighting how geographical exposure, socioeconomic conditions, and gender disparities increase the susceptibility to climate-induced hazards such as floods, cyclones, and salinity intrusion. Vulnerability is not steadfast in the environmental factors, but it is deeply influenced by poverty, limited access to resources, and systematic inequalities. Discussion emphasizes the gender nature of vulnerability, with women facing additional barriers to adaptation due to traditional roles and social constraints. Institutional policy responses are viewed, underscoring the need for inclusive governance, education, and long-term financial support. The study recommends a holistic and equity-focused approach to climate adaptation that prioritizes empowerment, gender inclusion, and localized solutions. Strengthening institutional capacity, increasing climate finance, and integrating climate into education and policy frameworks are vital to sustainable adaptation.
Cambridge online dictionary offers the meaning of the noun term “environment” as the air, water, and land in or on which humans, animals, and plants reside1. The environment can also be a mixture of factors that influence both organic and inorganic ecosystems and their shared co- existence. This co-existence is the last idea that is given significance in the sophisticated and busy life styles of the modern day.
The eastern coastal zone of Bangladesh is endowed with dynamic Terrestrial ecosystem. The wide river estuaries, the uninterrupted Teknaf coast, and the rich biodiversity of the study area provide ample opportunities for socio-economic development. Nevertheless, the terrestrial ecosystem of the east coast has been deteriorating in an accelerated rate owing to unethical anthropogenic interventions. Few studies regarding ethical attitudes of local communities to conserve the coast were conducted earlier. The main theme of the study was to identify the detrimental consequences of unethical anthropogenic intervention upon the terrestrial ecosystem of Teknaf Peninsula, Chattogram. The objectives were (i) to measure the heavy metal concentration and (ii) the physio-chemical quality of soil, and (iii) to analyze the depletion of vegetation coverage at the study area. Five heavy metals like- Cadmium, Copper, Iron, Lead, and Zinc; and three physio-chemical parameters such as, the pH, Electrical Conductivity, and Temperature of sample soil were measured. The average concentration of Pb in soil (0.25 mg/g) is 10 times higher than world average (0.03 mg/g), while the concentration of Fe at Himchari area (S 03) soil is 1.54 mg/g more than world average (3.4 mg/g). The physio- chemical parameters are within standard range. Unethical discharge of toxic effluents from shrimp hatcheries, and municipal garbage dumping are main sources of pollution, which ensue into degradation of the terrestrial and coastal and marine ecosystems. Further, the vegetation coverage has depleted manifolds. Hence, the Department of Environment (DoE), Bangladesh 1 declared the area as an ‘Ecologically Critical Area’ (ECA). The concerned stakeholders, like- CPP volunteers and officials, Forest Division, Fisheries Research Institute, Bangladesh Water Development Board, Union Chairman and Journalists of Cox’s Bazar recommended insertion of moral ethics among local stakeholders through trainings, motivational lectures, demonstrations and dramas, as well as, incorporation of lessons about consequences of unethical and unscrupulous activities upon geo- environment into text books. Though least practice has been found regarding the practice of moral values and ethics during the survey, the present research advocates in developing ‘Knowledge pool’ about coastal environment, creating awareness, and developing moral ethics among the local, regional and national stakeholders.
