Professor Jing-Bao Nie1
1Bioethics Centre, University of Otago
Where and how on earth did SARS-Cov-2 come from? Wat it zoonotic (natural) or lab-related (humanmade)? An adequate answer, one beyond reasonable doubt, is morally mandatory for not merely satisfying curiosity for truth but helping better prevent similar future global disasters. Above all, there is an essential collective duty owed to many millions of dead patients and uncountable people who have suffered from the disease itself and various public health measures taken to control it. The ongoing vocal war on the issue, mostly between China and the West, constitutes a disturbing new case on how bioscience and international politics are fatefully entangled.
Besides the necessary investigations by expert committees, a translational public inquiry into Covid-19 origins is imperative. Practically, this proposal is inspired by the landmark event in the history of public bioethics in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Cartwright Inquiry into unethical research at a national hospital. Ethically, many reasons urge such an inquiry. Classical Confucianism, particularly the socio-ethical thought of Mengzi (Mencius, c. 372-289 BCE), offers important insights. On the one hand, people cannot stand without xin (trust, trustworthiness). On the other hands, xin is the last of the five cardinal Confucian values, following ren (humaneness or humanity), yi (righteousness), li (rites), and zhi (wisdom or prudence), which means that genuine trust cannot be established without practising fundamental moral principles. An independent multinational public inquiry into Covid-19 origins is called upon to build better translational trust, the foundation of any effective global endeavour in dealing with any global challenge.
Biography:
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