**4. Discussion**

The selected and described articles address theoretical, conceptual and practical aspects related to elements of protection bioethics that contribute to the implication of health protection in environmental licensing.

#### **4.1 Bioethical problems addressed**

Although they do not attempt to analyze, specifically, environmental licensing, it is evident that this problem is implicated with the bioethical problems addressed, which are discussed below. Global capitalism, local development and the environmental issue Initially, it is worth considering that the implantation of large enterprises in Brazil must be understood in relation to economic globalization, inscribed in the aspects of technological and biotechnological advances that intensify social relations in a global dimension, as well as in conflicts and, in principle, in the possibilities of finding points of convergence [11].

Similarly, the oil refining process is located in the environmental problem because of its local impacts that become global, such as, for example, the production of greenhouse gases, both by the emission of industrial pollutants, and by the use mass of automobiles.

#### **4.2 Power relations**

Therefore, it is inserted in the complex circuit of global capitalism in which the expansion of the infrastructure to make productive processes feasible represents a perspective for the cross-borderization of politics and the economy [11]. Shedding light on the process of economic domination, Assumpção and Schramm [11] contribute to the reflection on decision-making processes in the context of globalization, a phenomenon that is not constituted through horizontal agreements between those involved but is achieved through vertical and hierarchical power relations and/or effective conflicts.

These power relations refer to the global and national elites that constitute a supranational power or an empire in which there is a transfer of sovereignty from nation states to a higher entity marked by great tension between a place institutional and the series of global instruments used by capital, as well as by a network or set of multiple power relations that cross, characterize and constitute the social body [13, 14]. In order to establish these power relations, the local economic development discourse useful to the incorporating power of global capitalism is used, which co-opts the political agents to adapt to the global market logic [11].

#### **4.3 Economic globalization and conflicts**

This cooptation process is necessary for homogenization that is preceded by adaptation to local power, history and diversity. Adaptations occur as these three fields become commodities, which, as such, meet economic globalization. For Santos [15], globalization is a vast field of conflicts and imposes itself as a hegemonic field, acting on the consensus of its most influential members. Such a consensus gives it domination and legitimates it as the only possible or most appropriate, consolidating itself from the simultaneous denial and affirmation of the consensus.

Santos [15] considers globalization, in general, perverse to increase local inequalities abysmally. In view of this complex scenario of interrelationships between the implementation of enterprises, globalization and local economic development, one must analyze human acts and the significant irreversible effects on the biosphere [1]. It is also important to give globalization an ethics directly focused on the long-term survival of the human species.

This will happen for the protection of human dignity and for the preservation and restoration of a healthy environment [1]. In this way, the relationship between ethos and oikos can be considered, taking into account all the problems about the effects of biopolitical and biopower devices, and their moral assessment and political consideration [4].

#### **4.4 Environmental licensing and bioethical implications**

Environmental licensing implies technoscientific responsibilities on the part of analysts environmental factors (when setting the parameters of the terms of reference) and the specialists (consultants) who carry out the environmental impact studies, and political and social responsibility for the decision to approve the introduction of risk situations in the territories where ecosystems are located, people living in the territories [16, 17].

The results show that environmental licensing is part of the field of concerns of bioethics as it is an intervention on a territory in which, in general, people and other living beings live, which are generally affected by the transformations produced.

**197**

*Bioethical Implications and Major Infrastructure Works DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93410*

living beings and ecosystems (moral patients) [2, 18].

groups threatened, including, by market interests.

protect the quality of life of the populations [10].

by Schramm and Kottow [12] applies.

**4.6 Principle of responsibility**

ecosystems [1].

**4.5 Risk situations**

health [16–18].

selves [19].

characterize the environment.

Protection bioethics has been considered the ethics applied to human actions related to vital phenomena and processes through concepts, arguments and norms that value and ethically legitimize human acts whose effects deeply and irreversibly affect, in a real or potential way, the systems vital, being a crucial issue in environmental licensing with the perspective of protecting collective health and

The conception of bioethics best suited to this context is that of protection adopted by Pontes and Schramm [10], as it is comprehensive to account for the vast spectrum of human action on the living world and which can affect human beings positively or negatively, living beings and the delicate autopoietic balances that

The complexity involving risk situations, health impacts and the production of new ways of becoming ill and dying, due to the introduction of polluting production processes, requires a critical understanding of the consequences of an action, answering substantial philosophical questions. Regarding the nature of ethics, the value of life , including the consequences of public policies, in particular those of

In accordance with this perspective, it can be said that environmental licensing is a strategic moment for the protection of public health. As it is a time of conflict, it requires an open dialog on the consequences of the actions of environmental analysts. and specialists (moral agents) who contribute to the authorization of the transformations produced by the productive processes on the lives of populations,

The concern with morality in environmental licensing is similar to that of research in human beings. However, market interests exert greater pressure on moral agents, increasing suspicions of conflicts of interest. An example of this is the hiring of consultants for the preparation of EIA by the entrepreneurs them-

There is a suspicion that those interested in the implantation will certainly not produce evidence against themselves, indicating the real environmental impacts. In the case of public undertakings, the most interested party has been the Brazilian State itself, which has the responsibility to protect populations and

The concept of a protective state presupposes that it is committed to the requirement of health justice, such as the principle of protection, which must be exercised in order to cover the basic needs for the construction of a fair social order and to

This should be understood as a specification of the principle of responsibility, as the most appropriate to address moral problems related to public health. In this way, the bioethics of protection presents itself as an ethics of social responsibility on which the State is based to assume sanitary obligations towards human populations

Protection is the perspective of environmental licensing; however, carrying out actions that promote better quality of life depends on the quality of the EIA. These should indicate the real impacts and the respective compensatory mitigating measures to be developed [18]. In this case, the protection principle recommended

*Bioethical Implications and Major Infrastructure Works DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93410*

Protection bioethics has been considered the ethics applied to human actions related to vital phenomena and processes through concepts, arguments and norms that value and ethically legitimize human acts whose effects deeply and irreversibly affect, in a real or potential way, the systems vital, being a crucial issue in environmental licensing with the perspective of protecting collective health and ecosystems [1].

The conception of bioethics best suited to this context is that of protection adopted by Pontes and Schramm [10], as it is comprehensive to account for the vast spectrum of human action on the living world and which can affect human beings positively or negatively, living beings and the delicate autopoietic balances that characterize the environment.

#### **4.5 Risk situations**

*Bioethics in Medicine and Society*

and/or effective conflicts.

the consensus.

consideration [4].

Therefore, it is inserted in the complex circuit of global capitalism in which the expansion of the infrastructure to make productive processes feasible represents a perspective for the cross-borderization of politics and the economy [11]. Shedding light on the process of economic domination, Assumpção and Schramm [11] contribute to the reflection on decision-making processes in the context of globalization, a phenomenon that is not constituted through horizontal agreements between those involved but is achieved through vertical and hierarchical power relations

These power relations refer to the global and national elites that constitute a supranational power or an empire in which there is a transfer of sovereignty from nation states to a higher entity marked by great tension between a place institutional and the series of global instruments used by capital, as well as by a network or set of multiple power relations that cross, characterize and constitute the social body [13, 14]. In order to establish these power relations, the local economic development discourse useful to the incorporating power of global capitalism is used, which

This cooptation process is necessary for homogenization that is preceded by adaptation to local power, history and diversity. Adaptations occur as these three fields become commodities, which, as such, meet economic globalization. For Santos [15], globalization is a vast field of conflicts and imposes itself as a hegemonic field, acting on the consensus of its most influential members. Such a consensus gives it domination and legitimates it as the only possible or most appropriate, consolidating itself from the simultaneous denial and affirmation of

Santos [15] considers globalization, in general, perverse to increase local inequalities abysmally. In view of this complex scenario of interrelationships between the implementation of enterprises, globalization and local economic development, one must analyze human acts and the significant irreversible effects on the biosphere [1]. It is also important to give globalization an ethics directly focused on

This will happen for the protection of human dignity and for the preservation and restoration of a healthy environment [1]. In this way, the relationship between ethos and oikos can be considered, taking into account all the problems about the effects of biopolitical and biopower devices, and their moral assessment and political

Environmental licensing implies technoscientific responsibilities on the part of analysts environmental factors (when setting the parameters of the terms of reference) and the specialists (consultants) who carry out the environmental impact studies, and political and social responsibility for the decision to approve the introduction of risk situations in the territories where ecosystems are located,

The results show that environmental licensing is part of the field of concerns of bioethics as it is an intervention on a territory in which, in general, people and other living beings live, which are generally affected by the transformations produced.

co-opts the political agents to adapt to the global market logic [11].

**4.3 Economic globalization and conflicts**

the long-term survival of the human species.

people living in the territories [16, 17].

**4.4 Environmental licensing and bioethical implications**

**4.2 Power relations**

**196**

The complexity involving risk situations, health impacts and the production of new ways of becoming ill and dying, due to the introduction of polluting production processes, requires a critical understanding of the consequences of an action, answering substantial philosophical questions. Regarding the nature of ethics, the value of life , including the consequences of public policies, in particular those of health [16–18].

In accordance with this perspective, it can be said that environmental licensing is a strategic moment for the protection of public health. As it is a time of conflict, it requires an open dialog on the consequences of the actions of environmental analysts. and specialists (moral agents) who contribute to the authorization of the transformations produced by the productive processes on the lives of populations, living beings and ecosystems (moral patients) [2, 18].

The concern with morality in environmental licensing is similar to that of research in human beings. However, market interests exert greater pressure on moral agents, increasing suspicions of conflicts of interest. An example of this is the hiring of consultants for the preparation of EIA by the entrepreneurs themselves [19].

There is a suspicion that those interested in the implantation will certainly not produce evidence against themselves, indicating the real environmental impacts. In the case of public undertakings, the most interested party has been the Brazilian State itself, which has the responsibility to protect populations and groups threatened, including, by market interests.

The concept of a protective state presupposes that it is committed to the requirement of health justice, such as the principle of protection, which must be exercised in order to cover the basic needs for the construction of a fair social order and to protect the quality of life of the populations [10].

Protection is the perspective of environmental licensing; however, carrying out actions that promote better quality of life depends on the quality of the EIA. These should indicate the real impacts and the respective compensatory mitigating measures to be developed [18]. In this case, the protection principle recommended by Schramm and Kottow [12] applies.

#### **4.6 Principle of responsibility**

This should be understood as a specification of the principle of responsibility, as the most appropriate to address moral problems related to public health. In this way, the bioethics of protection presents itself as an ethics of social responsibility on which the State is based to assume sanitary obligations towards human populations

considered in their real contexts, which are, at the same time, natural, cultural, social and eco-environmental [1, 10].

In this perspective, the protection principle requires that it be clearly specified what should be protected, who should protect what and for whom the protection is directed, becoming, therefore, operational. In particular, the population groups to be protected for their specific needs should be made aware of protective measures; otherwise, they can only be perceived as paternalistic and/or arbitrary, thus making them ineffective [12].

In addition, the information produced by environmental analysts and specialist consultants should not be reduced to the intricacies of research carried out for the preparation of the EIA, with language known only by professionals working in the paradoxically closed universe of institutions as foundations for supporting universities., environmental agencies and private environmental management companies. For these reasons, the fact that there are specialist researchers in the consultancies with the supposed exemption, determination to do good, integrity of character and scientific rigor, does not guarantee ethics or exempt any scientist from suspicion [2].

An example has been the absence of important aspects of health protection in the EIA in Brazil, which implies suspecting the non-identification of impacts, with a view to favoring the authorization of implantation, disregarding the production of a health risk situation [16–18].

An alternative in the sense of qualifying the EIAs would be the integrated environmental licensing, in which the environmental agencies would count on the participation of reference institutions (universities, research centers, institutes) through technical opinions for the elaboration of the term of reference, as well as well as the request for consent, after a critical analysis of the EIA by collegiate bodies with democratic participation, such as health and environmental councils. It is noteworthy that the ethics committees linked to the National Health Council are virtuous places in which cognitive, normative and protective tools of bioethics are used.

The evaluation system constituted by the research ethics committees of the National Research Ethics Commission, inspired by secular bioethics, represents itself as a legitimate and prima facie tool effective in contributing to the ethnicity of environmental licensing with regard to public health. The conceptual tools to be used for the approach of environmental licensing should not be those of the principled model, based on the four principles of "non-maleficence," "beneficence," "autonomy," and "justice" because they present themselves as inadequate in the treatment problems that occur in collective contexts, such as public health or global health [8, 10].

The recognition of conflicts is essential because all social practice inevitably falls within the dialectic between conflicts and cooperation that shapes historical societies. For this reason, bioethics serves as practical knowledge that aims precisely to account for the moral implications, seeking to understand, explain the reality of conflicts and trying to establish convergences to obtain a kind of harmony [3].

#### **4.7 Social movements of resistance**

In view of the conflict of interests, in which the Brazilian State is most interested in expanding infrastructure through major development works, and in which social movements of resistance to undertakings in local communities are manifested, here we defend, that protection bioethics, in its broad sense dimension, represents a virtuous form of resistance, just as it does with biopolitical practices that subject ethical questioning to supposed pragmatic needs of political realism, considered more

**199**

mental damage.

*Bioethical Implications and Major Infrastructure Works DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93410*

practices [4].

struction: justice.

environmental licensing [19].

open dialog for social justice.

biopolitics about life.

citizens [12].

**5. Conclusion**

responsibility, solidarity and resistance.

ronmental licensing process in Brazil.

**4.8 Bioethics, resistance to biopolitics and biopower**

concrete, effective and legitimate in its management of bodies, populations and life in general, sometimes with the cynicism of a public interest to justify morally unjust

An example of how to apply a resistance bioethics is the critical analysis of EIA, in socio-anthropological aspects, through the operation of deconstructing the concepts that materialize the contents and their reconstruction in the light of protection bioethics, producing mitigating measures and compensatory measures aimed at providing resistance to harmful effects on health and the environment, reconstructing forms of resistance in the name of what cannot be subject to decon-

Deconstruction is an analytical and interpretative method of moral conflicts inscribed in biopolitics, but also a tool that justifies bioethical practices that question biopolitics and biopower [4]. In this sense, it is possible to produce tools of resistance that contribute to the strengthening of social control through the cooptation and manipulation of the State, as in the case of public hearings provided for in

The perspective is that public hearings are, in fact, devices of power displaced and returned to the common use of democratic participation and the production of

According to Schramm [12] bioethics represents, in addition to questioning and criticism, a resistance to biopolitics, and its reductionism to the biological. According to the author, there are interrelationships that include the interests of the economy and public management. Bioethics enables a practical synthesis in the process of "empowerment" or "liberation," understood as an existential result of the

When deciding on the implementation of a productive process, which transforms the dimensions of life by authorizing the construction of works by mere political decision without taking into account the lives of human beings, other living beings and the entire ecosystem, this alienation is a form of manifestation of

And so, it is up to bioethics to establish itself as a form of resistance to biopolitics and biopower; that is, an alternative, mediating for the empowerment of

Supported by an integrative literature review, those related to protection were identified among the elements of bioethics, which involve other ethical dimensions:

The deconstruction method used as an analytical and interpretative method of conflicts contributes to the establishment of health protection means in the envi-

In this sense, relations have been established that characterize environmental licensing as linked to a morality that implies complex transformations in the territories where populations and other living beings in ecosystems live, and which fall within the field of lato sensu protection bioethics, being pertinent to adoption of practices aimed at improving the quality of life and empowering citizens, in the face of threats of introducing a situation of harmfulness to health and irreversible environ-

concrete exercise of citizenship, represented by participatory democracy.

*Bioethical Implications and Major Infrastructure Works DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93410*

*Bioethics in Medicine and Society*

them ineffective [12].

from suspicion [2].

are used.

health [8, 10].

**4.7 Social movements of resistance**

a health risk situation [16–18].

social and eco-environmental [1, 10].

considered in their real contexts, which are, at the same time, natural, cultural,

In this perspective, the protection principle requires that it be clearly specified what should be protected, who should protect what and for whom the protection is directed, becoming, therefore, operational. In particular, the population groups to be protected for their specific needs should be made aware of protective measures; otherwise, they can only be perceived as paternalistic and/or arbitrary, thus making

In addition, the information produced by environmental analysts and specialist consultants should not be reduced to the intricacies of research carried out for the preparation of the EIA, with language known only by professionals working in the paradoxically closed universe of institutions as foundations for supporting universities., environmental agencies and private environmental management companies. For these reasons, the fact that there are specialist researchers in the consultancies with the supposed exemption, determination to do good, integrity of character and scientific rigor, does not guarantee ethics or exempt any scientist

An example has been the absence of important aspects of health protection in the EIA in Brazil, which implies suspecting the non-identification of impacts, with a view to favoring the authorization of implantation, disregarding the production of

An alternative in the sense of qualifying the EIAs would be the integrated environmental licensing, in which the environmental agencies would count on the participation of reference institutions (universities, research centers, institutes) through technical opinions for the elaboration of the term of reference, as well as well as the request for consent, after a critical analysis of the EIA by collegiate bodies with democratic participation, such as health and environmental councils. It is noteworthy that the ethics committees linked to the National Health Council are virtuous places in which cognitive, normative and protective tools of bioethics

The evaluation system constituted by the research ethics committees of the National Research Ethics Commission, inspired by secular bioethics, represents itself as a legitimate and prima facie tool effective in contributing to the ethnicity of environmental licensing with regard to public health. The conceptual tools to be used for the approach of environmental licensing should not be those of the principled model, based on the four principles of "non-maleficence," "beneficence," "autonomy," and "justice" because they present themselves as inadequate in the treatment problems that occur in collective contexts, such as public health or global

The recognition of conflicts is essential because all social practice inevitably falls within the dialectic between conflicts and cooperation that shapes historical societies. For this reason, bioethics serves as practical knowledge that aims precisely to account for the moral implications, seeking to understand, explain the reality of conflicts and trying to establish convergences to obtain a kind of harmony [3].

In view of the conflict of interests, in which the Brazilian State is most interested in expanding infrastructure through major development works, and in which social movements of resistance to undertakings in local communities are manifested, here we defend, that protection bioethics, in its broad sense dimension, represents a virtuous form of resistance, just as it does with biopolitical practices that subject ethical questioning to supposed pragmatic needs of political realism, considered more

**198**

concrete, effective and legitimate in its management of bodies, populations and life in general, sometimes with the cynicism of a public interest to justify morally unjust practices [4].

An example of how to apply a resistance bioethics is the critical analysis of EIA, in socio-anthropological aspects, through the operation of deconstructing the concepts that materialize the contents and their reconstruction in the light of protection bioethics, producing mitigating measures and compensatory measures aimed at providing resistance to harmful effects on health and the environment, reconstructing forms of resistance in the name of what cannot be subject to deconstruction: justice.

Deconstruction is an analytical and interpretative method of moral conflicts inscribed in biopolitics, but also a tool that justifies bioethical practices that question biopolitics and biopower [4]. In this sense, it is possible to produce tools of resistance that contribute to the strengthening of social control through the cooptation and manipulation of the State, as in the case of public hearings provided for in environmental licensing [19].

The perspective is that public hearings are, in fact, devices of power displaced and returned to the common use of democratic participation and the production of open dialog for social justice.

#### **4.8 Bioethics, resistance to biopolitics and biopower**

According to Schramm [12] bioethics represents, in addition to questioning and criticism, a resistance to biopolitics, and its reductionism to the biological. According to the author, there are interrelationships that include the interests of the economy and public management. Bioethics enables a practical synthesis in the process of "empowerment" or "liberation," understood as an existential result of the concrete exercise of citizenship, represented by participatory democracy.

When deciding on the implementation of a productive process, which transforms the dimensions of life by authorizing the construction of works by mere political decision without taking into account the lives of human beings, other living beings and the entire ecosystem, this alienation is a form of manifestation of biopolitics about life.

And so, it is up to bioethics to establish itself as a form of resistance to biopolitics and biopower; that is, an alternative, mediating for the empowerment of citizens [12].

#### **5. Conclusion**

Supported by an integrative literature review, those related to protection were identified among the elements of bioethics, which involve other ethical dimensions: responsibility, solidarity and resistance.

The deconstruction method used as an analytical and interpretative method of conflicts contributes to the establishment of health protection means in the environmental licensing process in Brazil.

In this sense, relations have been established that characterize environmental licensing as linked to a morality that implies complex transformations in the territories where populations and other living beings in ecosystems live, and which fall within the field of lato sensu protection bioethics, being pertinent to adoption of practices aimed at improving the quality of life and empowering citizens, in the face of threats of introducing a situation of harmfulness to health and irreversible environmental damage.

The topic is not exhausted, requiring new studies—theoretical and empirical—on other aspects of bioethics, such as health protection tools in situations of environmental licensing of large enterprises.

The limitations of the method are recognized, mainly regarding the search resource using the term licensing, however the issue involved is implicated with bioethical problems—environmental ethics, global bioethics, natural ethics, biopower, biopolitics, globalization, social movements.

It is concluded that, in the context of the environmental licensing process of large enterprises in Brazil, bioethics can contribute as a theoretical and practical tool to mediate the existing moral conflicts, carrying out the detailed description of conflicts and dilemmas, the criticism, the justification and the proposal of morally acceptable measures for the protection of life.
