新冠病毒及疫情流行所產生之倫理爭議舉隅

「嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎」（COVID-19）已是當代一場全球性大瘟疫，人類追求「極大化」的慣性企圖，竟然敗給「極小化」的新冠病毒。新冠病毒所引起的爭議，約有四大類：一、病毒感染源。二、病毒名稱。三、防疫政策。四、疫苗問題。四者無一例外地衍生而為國內外重大政治議題，甚至喧賓奪主地成了網路社群的爭議焦點。本文分析第一項「病毒感染源」爭議中，有關「人畜共通疾病」的倫理議題。並就病毒擴散感染的三項主要原因開始討論：1.野生動物的棲地變更與人畜的快速移動。2.經濟動物的集約化飼養與野生動物的人工飼養。3.人工合成病毒與跨物種基因轉殖工程。接著，我將就第二項「病毒名稱」與第四項「疫苗問題」中，有關疫情命名的爭端，以及國產疫苗研發與施打所涉及的動物實驗與人體實驗，從佛法的觀點敘明管見。至於開發疫苗所涉及的標準作業流程（SOP），筆者強烈反對動物實驗納入SOP，並質疑：「動物實驗」作為醫藥研究必要條件，背後隱藏著一套西方「人類沙文主義」的思考邏輯。其次讚賞古漢醫以自體作為藥性測試的實驗對象的良好傳統。更期待有一天，所有未經「知情同意」且具高風險的人體實驗，以及所有會遭致痛苦的動物實驗，都能予以廢止。

關鍵字

新冠病毒；人畜共通疾病；棲地變更；集約化動物農場；基因轉殖；疫苗；動物實驗；人體實驗

並列摘要

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a contemporary global plague, has confronted us with an ironic situation: while human beings constantly pursue great achievement of our goals, we are currently defeated by a tiny virus. There are mainly four types of controversies that surround COVID-19. First, the source of contagion. Second, the naming of this virus. Third, the prevention strategies and fourth, the testing and release of available vaccines-all of which have turned into major political issues across the globe. These topics have become the focal point of dispute on social media and have distracts us from more important discussions about the pandemic. In this thesis, I began the discussion with the source contagion with the analysis of ethical controversy regarding zoonosis, an infectious disease that has crossed the species barrier between animals and humans. There are three major reasons for the transmission and spread of the virus: 1. The alteration of wild animal habitats and the ease of transportation of human beings and livestock. 2. The collective breeding of intensively farmed animals and the domestic breeding of wild animals. 3. Artificially synthesized viruses and transgene engineering across species. Following that, this thesis will investigate the second and the fourth controversies. Then on the matter of vaccines, I would like to take a closer look at the animal and human experimentation that was involved in the research and development of UB-612, Taiwan's domestic COVID vaccine, and offer my humble opinion from the Buddhist perspective. Furthermore, I hold a position that is strongly opposed to the default animal experimentation that is standard operating procedure (SOP) of vaccine research and development. I question the use of animals in western medical research-a methodology which seems to stem from human chauvinism. In comparison, I would discuss the fine tradition of Chinese medicine that tests new medicines on human beings in the initial stage. I hope that through this discussion, we can all look forward to a future without animal experimentation and high risk human experimentation that may also lack the process of informed consent.

並列關鍵字

COVID-19 ； Zoonoses ； habitat alteration ； Intensive farming of animals ； Transgene ； Vaccine ； Animal experiment ； Human experiment

參考文獻

Dong, Ensheng, Du, Hongru, Gardner, Lauren, 2020, “An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time,” The Lancet Infectious Diseases 20(5): 533-534, URL=https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30120-1 (Retrieved on 15, September, 2021).

大衛‧逵曼 (David Quammen)（著）、蔡承志（譯），2016，《下一場人類大瘟疫：跨物種傳染病侵襲人類的致命接觸》（臺北：漫遊者文化出版社）。